Britain Disintegrating Like Spit on a Hot Griddle

Britain Disintegrating Like Spit on a Hot Griddle

Those who care, weep for this once great nation, now little more than a shadow of its former self.

Almost within living memory, the sun literally never set on part of this huge empire somewhere on the planet. But as the United States had done, as our Commonwealth nations came of age themselves, they threw off the British yoke, one forged by some of the most stupid and mendacious officials it would be possible to comprehend.

But all this is ancient history to one and all today. Britain, after the two Wars, enjoyed a long period of prosperity supplying those nations now going it alone with goods and services while their own fledgling industries grew in place.

Now, there is little they really need from us. Quality in other lands has outstripped that at home; we now import far more consumer goods and basics than we export, as we weakly mumble about Rolls Royce’s and Bentleys. The world’s attention is not on Britain - or most of Europe - any more. The action is in Asia and South America; China and Brazil are the empires of the future.

But in their cases, they have the size to enable their holdings to increase inside their national boundaries. For a while, conquering other lands is not on the menu.

Britain seems to be a nation polarized between a government - and its charismatic leader, David Cameron, who remain upbeat, in public at least. And those who can see what is really happening on the high streets of their towns and cities.

Businesses are folding their tents in droves with the staff taking up unemployment assistance in many cases.

Instead of grocers, butchers, clothing stores, markets and all the rest, like some poisonous swarm of killer bees, pawn shops, betting emporiums and charity shops have moved in to all the high-rent high street shop fronts. (Yes, charity shops are not all sweetness and light, either…just check on what their executives pull down in salaries and where much of the donated stuff goes).

To a large extent, this is down to the proliferation of the super-markets, led by rapacious Tescos‘. But even these giants are hurting now; Tesco publicly declared its unease this week and they may soon be laying off workers never mind increasing.

The poor and marginalized, including three million or so state pensioners, have been forced against the wall by inflation.

Every day 10 senior citizens die from lack of heating (last year). This in one of the world’s once most respected First World countries.

Everywhere you look there is institutional or corporate greed, often to the point of being criminal. Yet these sociopaths are never brought up short by the government.

Now, we have just authorized a high-speed rail service to run from London to Birmingham…the cost? Between 32 and 50 billion pounds, depending on how cynical (realistic) is your thinking. (This amount includes it carrying on further north).

This is a train to do 250 mph just to travel around 200 miles! It will take it 20 miles to get up to speed and another 20 to de-accelerate and that doesn‘t include stops…you work out the math; they will never get it up to speed.

We now have train tickets among the highest in the world, and ten times the lowest in Europe! It means that just to travel 20 miles, from the ‘burbs into Central London, costs close to $150! When you see season tickets from this journey going for about $6000 dollars, you know we’re in the middle of the Mad-Hatter’s tea party!

Our much vaunted Olympic preparations creak along. Tickets are sold and recalled; hardly any of the top events have been available for ordinary British citizens. Betting has raised its ugly head; there are fears over event fixing which is almost impossible to stop. In the last few years, this evil malaise has spread into cricket, soccer and snooker, with players being fined and jailed. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. Like drinking during prohibition, governments have Buckley’s chance of stopping it.

Our petrol (gas) and costs of running a car are becoming unaffordable for anyone earning less than $30,000 a year.

My small Suzuki costs $150 per year in road tax; $350 in insurance, $100 mot (roadworthiness certificate…plus any repairs needed). Then our petrol is about $2 PER LITRE as I write, most of this going in tax to Westminster. It will soon be dearer than Scotch!

The government levies a huge fee for students going on to university, another band-aid solution. They do not have to pay the money back (plus interest) until they get a job earning more than 50,000 pounds (about 80,000 dollars) a year. Most do not get jobs like this which means a huge debt is accumulating which the tax-payers (again) will have to cover. Add it to the roughly 1500 dollars each household will be charged for the high speed rail, the amount we are still paying to bail-out banks, the huge sums our overseas military swallow, that we feel obliged to send to India and Africa (the first nation just about to venture into space!). Our local councils have just been restrained from fining householders up to 1000 pounds for making a mistake with their trash collection!…you get the picture.

Britain is like a cancer-ridden bulldog, its sides hollow and heaving for breath; its head nearly touching the ground.

We are not like the United States: that huge nation still has resources to carry it through its own bad times (as does Canada and Australia)… It is still strong and will not be bullied. Britain is more like the cur who shows its teeth, then slinks away, tail between its legs and hides behind the strength of its friends. We have lost the empire; we have lost our power; we have lost the respect once accorded to all things British; much of our businesses, utilities and other infrastructure is foreign owned. What is worse, we have lost of belief in our institutions to get us through these times.

We can’t make up our minds whether we want to be part of Europe or not; we have abandoned them (the Euro block) in their fight to avoid disintegration. We trumpet about how wise we were not to join the Euro; it was really only a matter of luck. Our erstwhile friends are contemptuous of us: France, Germany, Holland. All nations whom, although in trouble too, have a solid manufacturing base to turn to, and exports to supply the rising stars of China and Brazil, etc., if they can only help the lame dogs - like Greece, Portugal and Eire (Ireland) get through this recession.

Many say Britain is still in recession; they say the fact that we still retain the Standard and Poor’s triple-star credit rating is a political scam, aided and abetted by the US. France, (which was downgraded this week), is absolutely furious, saying with excellent reason, it is far more stable than “The Rosbiffs!”

The answer will be, I’m afraid, more warfare as a desperate world eyes the oil reserves and draconian limits placed by the Middle East producers.

By then we shall be lucky to have a few rusty old rifles!…and the ‘States may decline to bail us out again, unless it is politically expedient to do so.

There is more…much, much more, but I hope you at least have damp eyes by now.