A hilarious firestorm of a discussion, as expected on this part of the internet.
Mixed feelings on this one.
Personally, having lived 24/32 years of my life in the UK, it's time to say enough of this damp, rapidly de-industrializing Island of misery with soaring living costs, low salaries, food banks, tragically underpaid public sector workers, and overly cynical pessimistic population with no ambition. Europe/west on the whole is going through a civilizational menopause. And no one has menopause quite as bad as the Brits.
It's not a place where the highly educated (in STEM) can strive that well, unlike the US, or even many/all of its European piers. This is why it has a shockingly high brain drain, especially after Brexit. In my company, our UK division has the worst industrial performance, with the least educated workforce.
Britbongers place a higher emphasis on perceived merit than actual merit. It's evident in the way their companies/businesses are run, and even more evident in their politics. It's why the Conservative party overwhelmingly chose Truss over Sunak the first time. On a pure merit base, Sunak was clearly ahead. Yet they chose the low-IQ AngloSaxon bimbo with her A-level economics coursework policies.
I won't lie, even as a Bangladeshi, I do derive some satisfaction in seeing a Brown token boy at the helm of the "empire". It's hilariously ironic from a historic perspective.
What's even more satisfying is seeing the over-representations of brown/yellow/black faces in fields that require actual merit. Go to the most remote, ethnically White places in Britain, yet your local Pharmacist, GP, or Surgeon, is more likely to have a surname like Patel than Packington. Visit any top STEM faculties across the country, and see the over-representation of Asian names, usually Indians and Chinese, admittedly. The few English names remaining are usually from the older generation. At this rate, in 10 years time, they'll be pretty much run by Asians. Search for any scientific publications in top journals, and marvel at the proportion of non-European surnames on the list of authors.
I recall my recent Ph.D. graduation. I felt really sorry for the head of school, who had to read out names that were phonetically implausible for the English tongue. The list was full of surnames like Adeoye, Lui, Zhao, Patel, Chakraborty, Abdullah, Yang, Wu, Sivan, Kumaraswamy, and Adejuyigbe. Very few Jones and Richards on that list.
Ethnic British folks find themselves to be among the least educated demographics with the lowest rate of further (tertiary) education, and in the long term (because meritocracy will always win), socioeconomic standing. They have the least stable households, a shockingly high number of domestic violence. No wonder their children end up underperforming.
They have stood at the top of the civilization mountain for 300 years. They feel like it's their natural place. Yet the current generation did not climb the mountain themselves. When they see other folks climbing the same mountain, they appear intolerably smug and condescending. But that will only get you so far. In the end, meritocracy always wins.
If only English families were half as good at raising their children as raising their dogs, they wouldn't find themselves in such a shameful position in their own country.
PS: the summary was more about the Asian diaspora at large, rather than Sunak himself, who is most likely a fall guy, a brown token boy for the dying Tory party.
www.worldatlas.com
