Not yet anyway. Meanwhile it is strikes, the NHS, collapsing concrete, passing the buck, high interest rates, falling house prices or a government of musical chairs unable apparently to get a grip or exercise control. All of this unending bad news stems from two related ideologies. One is that the individual is greater than the state and the other is that the state is subject to market forces. Both of these are said by believers to be the highest examples of freedom when in fact, for the vast majority, they devour it.
Add to that cuts, economies, efficiency savings, project postponements and austerity over very many years and you end up with a deformed economy which cannot deliver. That is what we have now. Hunt and Sunak can tinker at the margins to effect marginal improvement, but in the end there will be only marginal recovery, nothing sustained, no great leap forward. At the first adverse event, and there are many coming down the track, the decline will return.
What is needed is a complete overhaul and restructuring of our system of government, our economic model, our economic management, our control of money and our social and strategic priorities. We need an industrial policy, a housing revolution and direct delivery of energy to business and households. Quangos, regulators and apologists engaged in scattering responsibility to avoid direct ownership must be consigned to the dustbin.
None of this will happen because we have a political class of the utmost incompetence and mediocrity. Hidden within it, eclipsed by the lies and broken promises of their peers, lie waiting a small number of sharp minds with the capacity to do something worthwhile. To empower them something has to blow. When it does, the bang will be big. Make no mistake about that.
Only then is there any chance of a fresh start. Without it, it’s down hill. All the way.