Decline and fall

It8217;s at this time of year that an expat8217;s thoughts turn most wistfully to England. This is the time of year that inspired the poets to write about the bucolic pleasures of England8230; but this year it8217;s not the sweet scent of strawberries that is emanating from Britain but the faint whiff of banana. It8217;s been a long time since Britain last tried to turn itself into a fully fledged banana republic. With stories of fuel-price protests, power cuts, new airport terminals that lose your baggage, panicky Budget measures8230; the country seems gripped by8230; economic stagnation, social disorder and political paralysis.

To be fair, this slightly Laminate quality to modern Britain is in part the inescapable8230; consequence of an economic crisis that has produced calamity all over the world. But the data points seem somehow more alarming8230; in Britain than anywhere else8230; No one has called in the IMP yet, but perhaps we shouldn8217;t rule it out. With the Budget picture deteriorating rapidly it won8217;t take much for the UM to be tipped into a classic currency-fiscal downward spiral of the sort made famous by banana republics everywhere.

There are signs too that the political culture is becoming bananised. The public seems to favour leadership qualities that emphasise personality traits over competence8230; I can8217;t be alone in seeing Boris Johnson8230; as a very English version of Eva Peroacute;n. Don8217;t blub for me Argentina, old chaps. At least8230; we don8217;t have to worry about a military coup. The repeated privations and humiliations visited upon Britain8217;s Armed Forces have reduced them to a state where they couldn8217;t overthrow a statue.

Excerpted from an article by Gerard Baker in 8216;The Times8217;