This is how I feel actually. I live in the UK and the new government has started doing very sensible things. They are actually dealing with a lot of points made in the comments here. I look at the weakness of the 2 presidential candidates in the US, the rise of the far-right in the two European powerhouses of France and Germany, and the risk of deflation in China and I think, gosh! Maybe this is right? We are looking like the stable sensible choice, at least for now.
Maybe, we have, as a country all agreed the Brexit was terrible, and things can be done better and maybe we've handed power to the right people.
Let me start with the Eton/Posh thing, the new cabinet is not that. The new parliament is not that. 80% of the cabinet are comprehensive educated:
The head of health had Kidney cancer and was saved by the NHS. The head of housing grew up in a council house, the head of prisons is a well known employer of ex-prisoners, the head of science used to be the head of R&D at GSK. The list could go on. As Starmer would say, it's people with "skin in the game" having the power.
And the fact they are bringing in non-politicians to get jobs done, superb.
Specifically on the splitting of the country between north and south to do an analysis, I do think that is valid, and instructional. We have seen various countries over the last 150 years achieve high growth when they have got focused on catching up to the better countries. The US grew quickly when it was catching up to the UK after the industrial revolution, and the UK grew quickly when we were catching up after WWII. China grew quickly when it was catching up to the west. Then, once it's done, growth goes back to a normal 1-2%. Well, perhaps, the UK can have the North catch up to the south and provide the growth. I look at what Manchester was 15 years ago, what Leeds was 15 years ago, and I think, sure, that's completely do-able.
Maybe, we have, as a country all agreed the Brexit was terrible, and things can be done better and maybe we've handed power to the right people.
Let me start with the Eton/Posh thing, the new cabinet is not that. The new parliament is not that. 80% of the cabinet are comprehensive educated:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/05/most-state-e...
The head of health had Kidney cancer and was saved by the NHS. The head of housing grew up in a council house, the head of prisons is a well known employer of ex-prisoners, the head of science used to be the head of R&D at GSK. The list could go on. As Starmer would say, it's people with "skin in the game" having the power.
And the fact they are bringing in non-politicians to get jobs done, superb.
Specifically on the splitting of the country between north and south to do an analysis, I do think that is valid, and instructional. We have seen various countries over the last 150 years achieve high growth when they have got focused on catching up to the better countries. The US grew quickly when it was catching up to the UK after the industrial revolution, and the UK grew quickly when we were catching up after WWII. China grew quickly when it was catching up to the west. Then, once it's done, growth goes back to a normal 1-2%. Well, perhaps, the UK can have the North catch up to the south and provide the growth. I look at what Manchester was 15 years ago, what Leeds was 15 years ago, and I think, sure, that's completely do-able.