Again, this is a first sort--just an overview that will back up further analysis. The United Kingdom is 23rd in world population, with about 61 million people. It is 6th in GDP, with about $2.9 trillion. And it is 4th in military expenditure, with about $61 billion per year. (Statistics as usual compiled from Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook and Nationmaster).
Politically, it seems as if the string has run out on Labour, and the Conservatives will in all probability take over in late spring of 2010. David Cameron, a pleasant man who sadly just lost a son, will inherit a mess. In the same way that current Prime Minister Gordon Brown has tried to micro-manage his government, his government has been trying to micro-manage the United Kingdom. There are local councils in England that put microchips on people's garbage bins to check if they are throwing out the right stuff. Scotland's National Party's long term plans to split off from the UK are on indefinite hold due to the economic downturn.
Economically, the UK had too many eggs in one basket--too much of their economy is based on complex financial services--read U.S. sub-prime mortgages... and they are taking a worse hit to their economy than most developed countries. The recession will bit deeper and last longer here than in most countries.
Socially, this class-conscious society will carry on, with too big of an underclass being supported by too small of a middle class. One tends to think it will boil over at some point, but the stolidiy and placidity of England seems never ending. Immigration has subsided as the issue, replaced by the recession and its effects on home prices. The NHS, the state-supported healthcare system, has improved dramatically, although it could still get a lot better, and people know it.
Technologically, the UK is still a hotbed of innovation and still resolutely unable to exploit it. Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) still are 2 of the top 10 universities in the world, and the Russell Group of universities rival the Ivy League in America. The UK government makes a real effort to encourage entrepreneurs, up until the time they actually invent something, at which point they almost all sell out to foreign companies with capital. In that, they are only following the example of too many larger UK companies.
Legally, the UK has more problems than they care to admit. There is corruption in high places--witness BAE's dodgy deal with the Saudis some years back, a deal that still goes uninvestigated. There are also worrying signs of the UK backing away from important freedoms, such as jury trials. Terrorism is being used as an excuse for taking away too many liberties.
Environmentally, the UK is clean and green and worried about CO2. They have made some of the most ambitious pledges about going even greener, and nobody knows how they are going to pay for them.
It is easy--maybe too easy--to predict a return to the era of moth-eaten sweaters and shabby bedsits for the UK. They're actually too smart and too hard working for that to be a guarantee. But the middle classes need to develop a mechanism for expressing political will--right now, the only voices heard are the protestors. There is no real voice for most of England. Until that develops, they will flounder.
The UK appears to have a fascinating and disturbing level of apathy toward political change. I can't easily judge, but it seems even higher than that of the States. Many, many people like to complain and worry about political changes, but there's very little movement toward activism or lobbying. I don't know why, but from my experiences with lobbying in the UK, the issue appears to be less available mechanisms, and more available will, amongst the middle class I know at least. Having said that, sites like WriteToThem seem to be starting to make changes - my MP is increasingly saying that he's heard from a lot of his constituents on specific issues.
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