“We have not built a reservoir since 1992 or a nuclear power station since 1995, but we have raised the age of using sunbeds to 18.”
– Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph.
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Samizdata quote of the day – government displacement activity editionSeptember 29th, 2024 |
 15 comments to Samizdata quote of the day – government displacement activity editionLeave a Reply |
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The system is incredibly bureaucratic – working inside it feels like it must have felt in the decline of the Byzantine (East Roman) Empire “Byzantine bureaucracy” and endless rituals, or the decline of the much later Hapsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empire – strangled not just in Red Tape, but in many colours of tape around documents (the Hapsburg Empire was said to have more officials than soldiers – I doubt that was true, but the very fact it could be said, and believed, says a lot about the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
A politician or an administrator (yes there are well meaning and hard working administrators) may know what should be done – but there is no way to make it happen, as the system in modern Britain has turned in-on-its-self and strangles everything, and everyone, with Red Tape.
But, yes, edicts to ban XYZ are easy to do – so that is what the system does.
Everyone is now a criminal because there are so many “laws”.
Own a machete or a knife of a certain type – and you are a “criminal”, own a chicken (yes one chicken) without the permission of the state – and you are a “criminal”.
Post opinions that the establishment does not agree with on Social Media – and you a “criminal”.
My neighbours are “criminals”, I myself am a “criminal”, everyone in Britain must have violated some of these endless insane edicts – so we are all “criminals”, and, therefore, can be arrested and punished at any time.
Ayn Rand said that this is what government wants – a population who have all violated “the law” because there are so many laws, a population living in fear of being arrested.
Tacitus got there first – “the more laws there are – the more corrupt the state is”.
And in case any Americans are feeling a bit smug – the United States is, these days, much the same.
Several months ago I re-watched the Pandora’s box documentaries Adam Curtis made in the early 90s. Watching the episode about nuclear power, I was impressed how advanced Britain was with this industry in the 50s and 60s, especially in comparison with the disaster zone the industry is now in Britain. The French have their own problems and make many mistakes themselves but their stubbornness at clinging to nuclear when the likes of Britain and Germany fashionably began to snub it is quite admirable.
Hannan mentions:
I’m sure there are plenty of voters who prefer illusions. But, almost all (maybe all of them even) of Britain’s contemporary elites – Hannan included – have shown they prefer illusions over reality time and time again. I don’t think blaming the voters really cuts it.
Some real wisdom, here.
Martin and Snorri are correct – it is not the fault of the voters.
Time and time again they voted for Conservative policies – but they did not get them.
At the last election most voters were in despair.
Martin,
Hear, hear. The preference for illusion over reality is the main reason I chose to live outside the western hegemony. I refuse to believe six impossible things before breakfast and alternate between anger and despair at what has been done to the country I grew up in.
And as for the “Conservatives”, Gordon Brown said it perfectly. “There is nothing that you could say now that I could ever believe.”
In my city in eastern Washington, we recently replaced a failing bridge.
The original bridge was built more than 100 years ago, in less than 10 months, at a cost of around $100,000. It was four lanes with sidewalks on both sides separated from the road by handrails, and was a flat bridge.
The new bridge took three years to complete, and is a two-lane arched bridge with sidewalks on both sides. Oh, and it took $25 million to build.
Adjusted for inflation, $100k in 1910 dollars is a little over $3.2m in 2023. So it took 8 times the money in 2023, and more than three times as long.
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1910?amount=100000&endYear=2023
I don’t think we have the civilizational capability anymore to effectively produce public works the way our grandfathers did. Too many hands out, too many snouts in the trough. As a commenter above said, it’s late stage civilizational collapse.
EDIT: Let me point out too that the 1910 bridge stood for more than 100 years. The new bridge is expected to last 20 to 30 years, if I recall correctly. Decline for sure.
I think if you read Dan Hannan’s article in good faith it is hard to see him blame the voters overall, although some of the electorate frankly deserve a kicking for making some bad decisions over the years. Hannan campaigned for years to take the UK out of the EU and for the UK to avoid mistakes such as entering the euro, which seems to suggest he avoids dangerous illusions rather well, and the same goes for his criticisms of Net Zero at a time when almost 99% of the political class thinks that it has to bend the knee to it.
The issue partly institutional: we have a system that favours offering voters various goodies, and avoiding telling them uncomfortable truths. For instance, if a politician points out that current debt is unsustainable, that we don’t save enough private capital, etc, and that we need to cut the Welfare State, pressure millions of out-of-employment Brits living on benefits to work, then he or she will have been pilloried the next morning for uttering a “gaffe”, and be asked to “explain” or moderate the comment in some way. Jesus, look at even how Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has been hammered for ending the winter fuel allowance, when the far greater sin of Reeves and most of her colleagues is to endorse Net Zero and the energy price rises it entails. The standard of public debate and commentary in the UK is dreadful, a mix of Dickensian sentimentality and dishonesty.
One might point out that the Hagia Sofia – then and for a long time the largest built interior space in the world – was constructed in just five years, without modern machinery.
But then, Justinian did not need to allow for the Town and Country Planning Act, and I don’t imagine that the bats or the newts got much of a look in either.
The French make big money exporting their excess electricity to countries like Germany that have effectively sold their souls to the NetZero crowd.
Meanwhile, the electric bills for our beach house in Narbonne Plage are dirt cheap, even when running the air conditioning all summer long.
Better to have the French disease of lots of lovely nuclear power than a future dependant upon bird choppers and solar panels like the UK is (although solar is widely used and useful in rural parts of Southern France. In Scotland…not so much).
One plus side to all of this is that when the blackouts do start rolling around (i’m guessing around 2028), it’ll probably push the plebs to oust Labour in 2029 the same way the Tories got booted out in July.
Vote Reform!
John Galt – France is not immune from cultural decline, and those nuclear power stations are growing old.
Johnathan Pearce – quite right Sir, the voters have repeatedly voted for conservative policies and NOT got them, so the voters are NOT to blame for the present state of the United Kingdom. If I implied that this is what Daniel Hannan believes – then I apologise for giving such a false impression.
Ferox – a very good example.
An inferior bridge, one that can handle less (not more) traffic, at a higher cost (even adjusted for inflation) taking longer, not less long, to build, and which will last less time (not longer – shorter).
Compared to, say, 1913 (the year my father was born) Western culture, including in the United States, today is a pale shadow of what it was.
At first this cultural decline was masked by technological advance – but now the cultural (societal) decline is so radical, that the technological advance can not mask it.
In spite of the new technology – the new bridge cost more to build (however calculated), will be able to handle less (not more) traffic, took longer to build, and will not last as long.
Yes – that is more than Washington State, that is an illustration of the decline of the Western world in general.
Something like the Woolworth Building, Cass Gilbert 1913, most likely could not be built today – “the cost has exploded”, “the unions will not allow XYZ”, “we do not have the craftsmen”, “the paperwork will take years” – and even the restoration work showed cultural decline.
The beautiful terracotta, which changed colour when the rays of the sun shone upon it in different ways over the day, was replaced by crude concrete.
And, of course, the gold leaf at the top was not replaced – by a society that pretends that the ravings of the Federal Reserve system (created in 1913 – the year the Woolworth Building was finished, after only taking a couple of years to build) are more valuable than gold – yet steals all the gold it can.
“Your physical gold has no real value – it is the government and banker “money” that has value, but errrr NO you can not have your gold back – even though we have just said it has no real value, we, the establishment elite, are keeping for ourselves this “valueless” physical gold that we have stolen from you, even though we pretend we do not value it”.
Ferox – via the wonders of technology, I recently watched a meeting of the local government in Lawrence County, South Dakota – one of the most free market areas in the United States.
One of the people at the meeting (there were only half a dozen people there – they try to keep their government small) mentioned a new road project – and, the man said, “it will be ready in a year – on time and on budget” at that point everyone LAUGHED including the man who said it, and they all knew they were being recorded on YouTube.
Everyone knows our civilisation is cracking up – even in areas that are the LEAST decayed (and Lawrence County has resisted the decline since at least the 1930s).
People in charge are even starting to laugh about it – in public.
The laughter is not from joy (far from it) – the laughter is from despair.
No new nuclear power stations since 1995 – and the last coal powered power station in Britain closes today.
And, as my friends in the police force (yes I have friends in the police force – but they would obey orders against me if they got them – they have to keep their jobs) warn me, the sort of things I write on the internet could get me arrested at any time.
Roue le Jour – you are, perhaps, wise not to be here.
a future dependant upon bird choppers and solar panels
Don’t forget the battery farms, probably the most important aspect and one often deliberately overlooked by environmental activists, because it is a huge problem, not only because it is extremely environmentally unfriendly, but the inefficiency and long term capacity degredation means even more wind and solar to keep them charged.
Of course, Mr Millipede is changing the rules so these sort of things can be overcome on paper, enabling his multi-millionaire and failed leader brother to profit via his shady venture capitalist connections, another Labour scandal coming your way …
If the amount of time, money and effort put into wind and solar had been put into nuclear we’d be popping safe, sturdy, reliable, compact reactors all over the place by now and our energy problem solved.
Of course, this will end up an even bigger carbon emission than the last one, the great compact fluorescent light bulb scam, which has probably sent a great deal of co2 into British air.
Runcie Balspune – the folly is indeed extreme.
Most Western countries are gripped by insane policies – but the bitter truth must be faced, the United Kingdom is gripped by some of the most insane policies.
Everywhere is going to have a very hard time over the next few years – but Britain is going to be one of the hardest hit places.
The people who are leaving understand this.
Here in Australia, the Liberal opposition (British Liberal meaning to Americans) is talking about introducing nuclear power. It is causing some controversy