UNSENT STUDIO · SYSTEMS · SERIES

THE COUNTRY
THAT FORGOT

Eight ways Britain lost the thread between what it chose, what it believes, and what happened next.

There is something strange about Britain at the moment.

We are angry.

About prices. Immigration. Wages. Housing. Taxes. Public services. Politicians. People on benefits. People with money. People without money. Someone going on holiday when somebody else cannot afford one.

Listen to a phone-in for long enough and everybody has an answer.

PUT BRITISH OFFICERS IN FRANCE. STOP THE BOATS OVER THERE. CUT IMMIGRATION — BUT KEEP THE WORKERS. MAKE THINGS CHEAPER — BUT DON’T RAISE TAXES. IMPROVE PUBLIC SERVICES — BUT DON’T SPEND TOO MUCH. TAKE BACK CONTROL — THEN COMPLAIN WHEN OTHER COUNTRIES EXERCISE THEIRS.

The individual arguments change.

The pattern underneath them doesn’t.

Britain has become remarkably good at discussing what is happening to us while becoming much less comfortable discussing how we got here.

THE PATTERN

WE MADE DECISIONS

Brexit did not happen to Britain.

Britain voted for it.

17.4 million people voted Leave in 2016: 51.9% of those who voted.

That doesn’t mean every economic problem since 2016 was caused by Brexit. It doesn’t mean everybody who voted Leave wanted the same thing. And it certainly doesn’t mean the other 48.1% disappeared.

It means a consequential national decision was made.

Ten years later, the Office for Budget Responsibility still assumes the post-Brexit UK–EU trading relationship will leave long-run UK productivity around 4% lower than if Britain had remained in the EU.

THE SQUEEZE ARRIVES. THE EXPLANATION DISAPPEARS. AND SOMEBODY ELSE MUST BE RESPONSIBLE.

WE REMEMBER THE SOVEREIGNTY.
WE FORGET THE LIMITS.

Perhaps nowhere is the contradiction clearer than immigration.

We wanted control of our borders.

Fair enough.

But Britain having sovereignty does not give Britain sovereignty over France.

France has a government. France has laws. France has borders. France has interests of its own.

That sounds painfully obvious.

And yet listen to some of the solutions casually proposed in Britain’s political conversation and you could be forgiven for thinking somebody forgot.

The Empire went.
Some of the assumptions survived.

WE NEED PEOPLE.
WE DON’T WANT IMMIGRATION.

Britain needs workers.

HOSPITALS CARE CONSTRUCTION HOSPITALITY BUSINESS PUBLIC SERVICES

And yet immigration is repeatedly discussed as though it exists entirely separately from the economy that requires those people.

We want the labour. We want the tax receipts. We want the services. We want the vacancies filled.

But politically, we increasingly want fewer immigrants.

When Britain says it has a problem with immigration, which immigration are we actually talking about?

Because those conversations are not always as colour-blind as we pretend they are.

PERHAPS WE WERE NEVER VERY GOOD AT EXPLAINING THE SYSTEM.

England actually has statutory citizenship education at Key Stages 3 and 4 in maintained schools.

Parliament. Elections. Political parties. Government. International governance. Public finances. Evidence.

Which raises a more interesting question than simply saying schools don’t teach politics.

If this is what we say we teach, how much of it survives into adulthood?

We measure education constantly.

READING MATHS SCIENCE EXAMS LEAGUE TABLES RANKINGS

But perhaps there is another kind of education that is harder to measure:

Understanding the society you have been educated to live in.

THEN WE BUILT AN ECONOMY AROUND THE ARGUMENT.

Politics increasingly arrives as clips, callers, confrontations, headlines and reactions.

EVERYONE GETS AN OPINION. EVERYONE GETS A SOLUTION. EVERYONE GETS ANGRY.

Understanding takes longer.

Anger is quicker.

That doesn’t make the public stupid.

It makes the environment worth examining.

THE SERIES

EIGHT WAYS
WE FORGOT

Decisions become consequences. Consequences become grievances. Grievances become stories. Somewhere along the way, the original decision disappears.