[poulsbohemian]

This might sound like cheap shots, but I say it with love for my friends in the Uk...

If you look at Britain historically...coal is dead. Wool is dead. The island itself is fairly small for much agriculture. There aren't a whole lot of natural resources. They had power and resources through their empire, but that is gone. Their one shot, so to speak, was like many developed nations - services, including financial. But Brexit was signaling, and companies saw that there was little incentive to stay and do business there vs. Frankfurt, Zurich, New York, etc.

So... yeah, a lot of us pre-Brexit saw this malaise not only for what it was, but what it was going to become. It isn't a pretty picture and the utter void of competent political leadership means this is probably a protracted decline.

[TremendousJudge]

Sounds like the country is regressing to the mean then. Thanks to the empire they are used to being on top of the world, but all their advantages are gone now except for the tax havens and an old cultural narrative that the British are inherently better than everybody else.

[tim333]

We have odd strengths in spite of being kind of crap at most things. Books for example.

>According to a new report from the International Publishers Association (IPA), UK publishers released 184,000 new and revised titles in 2013. This equates to 2,875 titles per million inhabitants, and places the UK an astonishing 1,000-plus titles ahead of second-placed Taiwan and Slovenia (1,831). Australia is considerably lower, at 1,176, while the US published just 959 titles per million inhabitants.

Also music, universities, financial services, tea rooms etc.

[radicaldreamer]

Their financial empire still remains strong, as a conduit or storage tank for illicit flows from corrupt countries worldwide (a kind of Switzerland with a large population and areas for investment).

[drcongo]

London is the money laundering capital of the world. That's literally all we have left.

[euroderf]

To be exact, the City of London - the "square mile" that is a 95% self-ruling medieval enclave within the city of London.

[actionfromafar]

Lest someone think this is a joke or exaggerated. No, it's literally true. Corporations have a direct vote in the assembly. It's policed by itself and answers to no-one, not even the symbolic "crown"

[alephnerd]

Brings a whole new meaning to "Singapore on the Thames" eh

[dTal]

I think that was always the meaning at some level, to be honest.