Parties are far too in thrall to the temporary nature of polls that gauge those public attitudes. They don’t share my Fantasy Premier League patience or Singapore’s investing mantra.
Singapore lets you build momentum around that income, while the UK just exacerbates the expenses. If we returned, we’d pay a gruelling marginal rate of tax while footing the bill entirely for nursery and childcare costs. Treading water rather than making progress.
Cabinet members in the US and Singapore can command far better pay elsewhere. But they are freed up to take on real responsibility. If the UK can’t offer similar paths to the country’s brightest, it condemns itself to mid-table mediocrity.
Deciding what you’re going to do is more effective than a lengthy mission statement. Many of the UK’s political failures of the last 15 years stem from giving too much thought to branding and too little to a plan.
The UK’s wealthiest clearly see life as more than a game of hoarding money. But it doesn’t mean they will indulge in an indefinite game of jump and how high with the government. Patience is wearing thin.
Civil liberties don’t carry as much traction as we might wish. And the Conservatives will carry the can for the Boriswave into the next election. Labour can easily finger them as soft if it appears they won’t give the state extra powers in Digital ID to tackle immigration.
The UK has the resources. Its universities, legal system, financial markets and cultural capital are assets which could allow it to punch far above its weight.
We may resent China’s methods, but it thinks seriously and strategically and can execute quickly. By contrast, Liz Truss’ attempts to reshape the UK were immediately cast as inherently destructive because they rattled short-term nerves.
Britain should ask what kind of business it resembles now. WeWork comes to mind, as successive governments seek only popularity, without any strategy for long-term profitability.
The Wrexham model shows the possibilities of treating towns as assets rather than state-dependents. Joseph Phua’s plans for King’s Lynn reflect that mentality.
Can economic liberalism exist without social conservatism? The most permissive societies don’t thrive economically. If the basis of capitalism is private property, one must feel secure in its ownership.
Instead of drawing on our national story, we’re embarrassed by it and instead compress our identity into a narrative barely older than Singapore’s independence. We’re a much older country with a much shorter memory.
The UK’s free ride for non-committed foreign capital stems from the same impulse that pays to house immigrants at the expense of taxpayers. Conservatism must prioritise its own citizens.
I’ve lived and worked in Singapore for almost three years. I started a business and a family here. I can understand why conservatives idealise the place.
Instead of instinctively dividing society into sinners (elites) and the saved (working people), populism needs to reach across divides. Resentment can spark a movement but only discipline and humility can sustain it.