Britain's three 'Ds': Deindustrialisation, degrowth, denigration of outsiders

Photo by Sabrina Mazzeo on UnsplashWhat happened when Britain chose a post-World War II path that focussed on the frothy financial sector rather than solid industry and manufacture?

A recent piece in The Atlantic on Britain’s slow slide, suggested that the decision to privilege neo-liberalism made for short-term gain (a financial boom in the 1990s and early 2000s) and long-term pain sans a likely cure. “By choosing finance over industry, government austerity over investment and a closed and poorer economy over an open and richer one”, Britain is beset by a deep malaise, the magazine said.

It’s true that there are some very visible symptoms. Automation (or lack of). Productivity (or lack of). Political vision (or lack of).

The piece quotes the International Federation of Robotics. Apparently, with barely 100 installed robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers in 2020, the UK manufacturing industry has less technological automation than just about any other similarly rich country and an aver…