History Repeats Itself, or The Decline and Fall of the Tory Empire

A possible future: The city of London is sacked by barbarian hordes. As a priest watches from the steps of St Paul's, a burly Brixtonian drags David Cameron away from his wife Samantha. Or is it the fall of Rome?

A possible future: The city of London is sacked by barbarian hordes. As a priest watches from the steps of St Paul’s, a burly Brixtonian drags David Cameron away from his wife Samantha. Or is it the fall of Rome?

My brother phoned up to inform me that he has passed his PHd and is now a Doctor. This is a terrific achievement for a man who has been on incapacity benefits, of one form or another, for much of his adult life, and will open many doors for him.

During the conversation, he mentioned some very interesting facts.

Did you know that the fall of the Roman Empire began when its richest citizens decided not to pay their taxes anymore and withdrew to their private estates? Public services were divided up and sold off, and the bulk of the tax burden was placed on the poor, who were in no position to pay up.

Neither did I.

Isn’t that similar, though, to the situation in the UK right now? Never mind all the nonsense George Osborne and David Cameron have been talking about getting tough on tax avoidance; the fact is that the richest corporations – the multinationals and those with the ability to follow their example – have been paying far less than their due for many years, sequestering the rest of their money away in foreign tax havens, well away from prying tax inspectors’ eyes.

And David Cameron made it clear as early as 2011 that he wanted to sell of as much of Britain’s public services as he possibly could, retaining only justice and the security services (although we can see that justice is also being broken up, with plans to get lawyers to bid for the privilege of providing “adequate” service to defendants). The NHS is already being carved up; parts of some police forces have been privatised; we have some private prisons. Parts of the civil service are to be sold into private ownership. The list is growing.

The whole situation mirrors that of the Fall of Rome, and begs the question: Is David Cameron trying to engineer the end of British civilisation as we know it?

Just a thought.

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14 Comments

  1. michael lee May 14, 2013 at 10:26 pm - Reply

    Spot on Mate – you should be proud ! …. Our day is coming – I can feel it in me bones :-)

  2. Big Bill May 14, 2013 at 10:30 pm - Reply

    I believe Osborne’s the one with a history degree.

    • elizabeth maxwell May 15, 2013 at 11:58 am - Reply

      HA HA!

  3. Tom (AAV) May 14, 2013 at 11:14 pm - Reply

    Decline and fall is a great book.

    The most interesting aspect of the Roman decline for me was rise of the nomadic bands of Germanic warrior tribes that held to ransom and then ruled the western part of the Roman empire (huns, vandals, ostrogoths, visigoths).

    The modern version of these nomadic mercinaries would have to be be the multinational corporates, who show no territorial loyalty, but simply act in their own interests, searching out the laxest tax regime with the most ruthlessly oppressed or heavily subsidised workforce and relocate their in order to maximise their profitablity.

    Keep up the good work mate…

  4. Thomas M May 15, 2013 at 1:10 am - Reply

    This government in my eyes is endangering the stability of the nation.

    I wonder if when the demos get too big for the press to ignore, they’ll seed them with anarchists? That way instead of “More then a million peacefully demonstrate” as a headline, it’ll be “200 riot, throw things and act like idiots.”

  5. Smiling Carcass May 15, 2013 at 1:40 am - Reply

    I don’t think Cameron trying to engineer the end of British civilisation as we know it; he is trying to engineer the end of the welfare state and state provision of services that generally are not considered to come under that banner, such as prisons, police etc. and one might reasonably argue that really, in essence is the end of British civilization as we know it.

    But I think Cameron considers his changes to affect only the poor and working class; that only their civilisation will end, as they know it but that he and his rich cronies will continue to live as they always have, in luxury, wealth and immunity from the law.

    No doubt he and his cohorts have sat around tables, sipping champers and pink gin; gorging on caviar and salmon discussing the mechanics of bringing about such a change. No doubt they think they have thoroughly investigated and solved every problem that may arise.

    I suppose they consider the payment of taxes irrelevant in their utopia, their great wealth protecting them from the lack of services.

    What they haven’t reckoned with is the truth that every action has an equal and opposite reaction; I have seen this in the rise in support for the Left, both in the macrocosm of the country and the microcosm of my local area. People that once condemned my opinion, political and moral are now beginning to applaud my small voice, expressed locally and have people stopping me in the street wondering why I haven’t been writing so much in our local paper.

    They have overestimated themselves and underestimated us. As another commenter said, change is in the air; and not the change they wish to see.

    • shirleynott May 15, 2013 at 9:29 am - Reply

      Completely agree & I especially like your reference to pink gin; somehow that image encapsulates brilliantly the probable ‘planning’ meetings.

  6. Editor May 15, 2013 at 7:32 am - Reply

    Reblogged this on kickingthecat.

  7. elizabeth maxwell May 15, 2013 at 10:28 am - Reply

    The great late Jimmy Reid MP once said this—-what is the point of the rich having it all when you have to gate yourself in your mansions to keep out the poor and hungry,afraid to step out of your palaces in case you are robbed or confronted by the masses. You then become a prisoner in fear because of your love for money

    • Big Bill May 15, 2013 at 10:48 am - Reply

      This is how they live in South Africa though, in enclaves, and you can see a movement towards that here now with gated communities and private policing of them.

  8. guy fawkes May 15, 2013 at 5:30 pm - Reply

    Those that police them are the real traitors of the people.

  9. Smiling Carcass May 16, 2013 at 4:45 am - Reply

    “Nothing can be more absurd than the spectacle of a few fat men exhorting all the thin ones to tighten their belts.”

    Michael Foot

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