The problem is the UK tech business scene positively drips in that particular sort of expensively suited sliminess, as the entire HP Autonomy mess epitomized. Other places have this, but in the UK it's like it has killed almost the whole ecosystem.

It hasn't been a country with a remote chance of producing another Arm for well over a decade, and Arm, successful though it is, is not a huge financial success. Maybe that's what using Prince Andrew as a trade representative achieved.

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username332211 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Somehow, I have the nagging suspicion that the laws of parliament and it's budgets have more to do with the state of British enterprise than the appointment of a sexually-predatory prince as a trade representative. And that you are well aware of that.

I also suspect that your (*) unwillingness to name the actual reasons for the loss of economic capability is the ultimate cause of what you are describing.

(*) And mine, if I'm to be honest.

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fidotron 9 hours ago | parent [-]

> Somehow, I have the nagging suspicion that the laws of parliament and it's budgets have more to do with the state of British enterprise than the appointment of a sexually-predatory prince as a trade representative. And that you are well aware of that.

Nope. What kind of culture puts a guy like that as a trade rep? An utterly superficial one, which is what the UK is today, and that is the root problem.

Liz Truss had her stopped-clock-being-right-twice-a-day moment when she asked why it was that all the kids in the country wanted to be pop stars or football players. It's almost like the effort:reward for absolutely anything else just isn't worth it.

	▲	username332211 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		And yet, the culture of the realm is probably innocent even there. There are very sound financial reasons why nobody in that island aspires to work in any sort of science and engineering. Similarly, if you are the sort of person interested in putting their capitals to productive use (as opposed to a downright parasic extraction of rents) , the best decision you could make is to place them across the sea. Or the ocean.