Corruption and immigration
Add corruption to that potent mix. The collusion of the police force with scumbag journalists is common knowledge to the outside world; less well known is corruption in the Mother of Parliaments. Britain's MPs have used their various allowances to pay supermarket and video rental bills, or to buy houses while in fact staying with relatives, and in one instance to have the moat cleaned at a private castle. Such scandals have severely undermined public faith in politics and politicians.
And of course there is the elephant in the room - a steady influx of Muslim immigrants, including uncountable illegals, that threatens to rip apart the country's multicultural society. A large number of these immigrants are notorious for ripping off Britain's welfare system. Few are willing to assimilate but instead many have joined the jehad against the very state that feeds them. The fallout of such reckless immigration policies is the rise of the fascist right that now has two members in the European Parliament.
Sinking economy
The cuts are perhaps inevitable. For, the recession has shrunk Britain's GDP by over 5 percent. The ratings agencies are threatening to lower its AAA credit status, a move that could lead to a flight of capital. Ominously, Britain has a budget deficit that rivals that of Greece, and its national debt is soaring unsustainably.
In the current economic and security scenario, Britain is not really in god shape to host the 2012 Summer Olympics? The country harbours many hardcore Islamic radicals, from Chechnya to Kashmir, and has many home-grown Muslim terrorists, who are sworn to establish an Islamic state. The additional threat of civilian disrupters may simply overwhelm the security apparatus. The Games will also squeeze the government that can't pay for basic public services. The right thing for the International Olympic Committee to do is step in and shift the venue.
Needed: New work culture
At any rate, instead of sports Britain needs to get back to work. Its work culture - or rather the lack of it - has been parodied in the comic book "Asterix in Britain" in which Julius Caesar conquers the country by attacking only at tea-time and on weekends. Ratan Tata, the CEO of India's Tata Group, has lamented the work ethic in Britain where the weekend starts after lunch on Friday. Tata acquired and turned round Britain's Corus Steel, Land Rover and Jaguar, and it's a safe bet his British managers and workers weren't allowed to go home at midday.
For, the British must realize they are not competing with debt defaulters like Ireland and Portugal, but instead with powerhouses China and India that have better economic governance. The country's position as a financial hub relies significantly on the back of foreign direct investment, much of it from Indians and Chinese. That tap may shut if the triple-A rating goes.
As their cities burn, for millions of Britons it must feel like the end of an era. But if they don't turn around their country quickly, it could also be the beginning of another - of irrelevance.
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