Is it just us, or does it increasingly feel like Britain is going to hell in a handbasket? We have industrial strikes, a cost of living and energy crisis, high inflation, political instability, perennial problems with the European Union and widespread cultural malaise. But is it true that the UK finds itself in an interminable decline or is it merely a figment of our collective imagination?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss declinism. We delve into economic data, compare the state of the nation today compared to the 1980s and discuss the British Empire, Netflix, relative decline and evolution. Finally, we share the things we are optimistic about for the future.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- The illusion of moral decline
- Stagnation nation: how can Britain pull itself out of its economic decline?
- Britain is much worse off than it understands
- Headlines claim Britain is declining. They aren’t new — but are wrong
- The optimism gap
- Human development index

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