In Defence Of England

If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy.

In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say ‘Look guys, it’s about more than just winning.”

Johan Cruyff

You know the old phrase about not doing anything untoward on your own doorstep?

Well it seems it has become pretty fashionable to desecrate our home in these past few months. Increasingly, amongst people here in this country, the prevailing narrative is that the UK is a relic of the past - post-growth, no hope.

And it doesn’t help when our own leaders have (up until the past few weeks at least) been talking down the UK’s prospects at every available opportunity.

As every Investment Manager knows, there is no such thing as bad performance - just the wrong benchmark. So I get why Labour kept on about the state the Conservatives left the shop in after winning the election.

But there does come a point where repeatedly pointing out the terrible state of the UK economy might become counter-productive, and I fear they may have stepped past it.

A large bank, in England. The Bank of England. Image credit: Shuttershock.

In a mature, consumer driven economy - confidence is everything. In fact, all economies are a confidence game really.

If the 10 o’clock news is just a procession of talking heads repeating that the UK is a basket case - how is Joe Public going to feel about buying that car, starting that business, going on that holiday? Words matter.

I voted Labour last year, and must admit to being somewhat disappointed by the lack of impact the new government has made so far.

Welcome then that they have finally started to make more positive noises about the country’s prospects, because we have loads to offer.

A world class education system. One of the top financial centres on the planet. A rich cultural and historical heritage. Amazing music and sport.

And a society that at least bothers to try to look after our most vulnerable.

A mate recently shared a really good piece in the FT by Janan Ganesh that resonated. It’s worth paying a few quid to check out.

Maybe the issue isn’t that we are punching below our weight economically, but that we are in the midst of an identity crisis. Maybe we aren’t all that sure what game we want to play.

When we look globally, the eye is naturally drawn to the US as the economic powerhouse of the world.

And America is a really amazing place. As long as you have money.

A British dog. Image credit: Shuttershock.

If the cost of eek-ing out a few more points of economic growth here in the UK is that we have to abandon some of the values that are absolutely foundational to our society - then maybe that isn’t a price worth paying? Maybe it is about more than winning.

Yes you could pay less in tax elsewhere. But it is too hot, and they don’t have Greggs.

All of these folks on social media claiming that they are going to leave and take their millions with them. When push comes to shove, will they actually? And do we even want people whose idea of a good time is a tax break?

Either way - I’m pretty sure we will have enough smart and successful people left behind to make it work.

I promise this isn’t some anti-capitalist rant. It is the best system that we know of to grow the overall pie and enrich the most people. But we can’t measure success solely by GDP.

Nor is this a starry eyed love letter to the country. We have plenty of problems - inequality, ageing infrastructure, cultural polarisation.

Most of all, we really must stop tearing ourselves apart over political side-quests.

A brave British microphone being shouted at by a man (nationality unconfirmed). Image credit: Shuttershock.

Despite what you might have heard, Britain is still pretty Great. There is so much potential just waiting to be unlocked here, if only we let it.

The first step is to work out what it is we want to be.