Good comment. In fairness the empire enabled an accumulation of capital which in turn enabled the industrial revolution and a great deal of engineering and scientific innovation. But the Brits were never great at commercialising their inventions which was then often done by others. They had first mover advantage in many spheres but squandered it all because of an effete ruling class.

Nowadays all their leading edge companies have been taken over my foreign owners and their university researchers have been isolated from their European colleagues by Brexit.They still have a strong presence in marketing and developing brands, but that's about it. Brexit is killing what's left of their leadership in financial services and car manufacturing has halved since 2016.

It's hard to think of anything now where British leadership is essential which is why their negotiating position was so poor in the Brexit negotiations. Far from "the EU needing us more than we need the EU", no one needs the UK for much of anything any more. Now even their rock musics sucks once you get past their golden oldies like Mark Knopfler.

Index of Frank's Diaries