Thank you, a superb written piece and certainly plausible. We are seeing similar actions now being played out in the US and without doubt changes in the UK are supporting a future that would see democracy die. If the UK fails to act now then the future you describe can and will happen.
I can only echo the previous comments in that it’s excellently written & perfectly plausible. Slightly worrying that media outlets weren’t interested. How about LBC radio in the UK?
Nicely done. I wonder about the starting point, 'evidence-based policy-making giving way...'. Evidence-based policy-making is the exception rather than the rule in Whitehall, strong in some domains (cancer screening, vaccination policy, etc.), practically non-existent in many others (sentencing and penal policy, for example).
This is only one symptom of the many micro-anti-entropies of human existence giving way to the universal progression towards equilibrium into nothingness.
It is worth noting that a substantial parliamentary majority has just been obtained by a party that received 33.7% of the vote, and under first past the post there is every chance that a similarly large majority could be won by a party with even fewer votes, if they are unevenly distributed across constituencies. The scenario described in this piece is certainly possible.
Christina - this is brilliant. Echoes of Orwell's "1984"! We are sleep-walking towards a scenario like this, and like what is happening in the USA. If only there was a credible political party to stand up to all of this!
Given the way that PHE/UKHSA staunchly defended wrong political views during the Covid pandemic - particularly around airborne transmission and masks, and around children and schools - we are already there.
This is indeed chillingly realistic, and I think I'm judging it from an especially privileged vantage point, because I grew up, graduated, and worked in two universities in apartheid South Africa, which was an authoritarian police state run according to radical right-wing policies in addition to being a racist state. A lot os what Christina has imagined existed there.
This would be one of the final nails in Homo sapiens coffin. Thanks for writing it. I wonder if, as a species, we have no more collective wisdom than bread mould!
This is horribly beievable. You should be distributing this far further than a substack Christina - people need to have their eyes opened to just what could so easily happen.
This is totally believable. 2016 Brexit was a rehearsal for Trump v1. And given that Vance is the likely 2028 Potus, this is all too credible. Badenoch is half way there already.
Excellent, very plausible post
Thought provoking indeed...
Thank you
Thank you, a superb written piece and certainly plausible. We are seeing similar actions now being played out in the US and without doubt changes in the UK are supporting a future that would see democracy die. If the UK fails to act now then the future you describe can and will happen.
Excellent post - exactly the type of pre-mortem, long-term thinking we desperately need more of. Thank you, and well done!
I can only echo the previous comments in that it’s excellently written & perfectly plausible. Slightly worrying that media outlets weren’t interested. How about LBC radio in the UK?
Nicely done. I wonder about the starting point, 'evidence-based policy-making giving way...'. Evidence-based policy-making is the exception rather than the rule in Whitehall, strong in some domains (cancer screening, vaccination policy, etc.), practically non-existent in many others (sentencing and penal policy, for example).
This is only one symptom of the many micro-anti-entropies of human existence giving way to the universal progression towards equilibrium into nothingness.
It is worth noting that a substantial parliamentary majority has just been obtained by a party that received 33.7% of the vote, and under first past the post there is every chance that a similarly large majority could be won by a party with even fewer votes, if they are unevenly distributed across constituencies. The scenario described in this piece is certainly possible.
Christina - this is brilliant. Echoes of Orwell's "1984"! We are sleep-walking towards a scenario like this, and like what is happening in the USA. If only there was a credible political party to stand up to all of this!
Given the way that PHE/UKHSA staunchly defended wrong political views during the Covid pandemic - particularly around airborne transmission and masks, and around children and schools - we are already there.
Scary.
Chilling but plausible.
This is indeed chillingly realistic, and I think I'm judging it from an especially privileged vantage point, because I grew up, graduated, and worked in two universities in apartheid South Africa, which was an authoritarian police state run according to radical right-wing policies in addition to being a racist state. A lot os what Christina has imagined existed there.
This would be one of the final nails in Homo sapiens coffin. Thanks for writing it. I wonder if, as a species, we have no more collective wisdom than bread mould!
It’s so credible, l almost hope Farage & co. don’t see it ….
This is horribly beievable. You should be distributing this far further than a substack Christina - people need to have their eyes opened to just what could so easily happen.
I tried sending it to some newspapers and current affairs and science magazines but they weren't interested...
That's disturbing - echoes of what you are writing about.
Try Novara, or Bellingcat?
This is totally believable. 2016 Brexit was a rehearsal for Trump v1. And given that Vance is the likely 2028 Potus, this is all too credible. Badenoch is half way there already.