Commenting on a Newsweek story that says Britain is no longer Great, MEP Daniel Hannan writes:

I don�t deny that he�s got a point, particularly about the debt levels. This Labour Government, like the last, has left Britain diminished and dishonoured, its Treasury empty, its credit exhausted. Then again, see how quickly these things can be turned around.
Americans were saying much the same thing about Britain three decades ago. �Britain is a tragedy - it has sunk to borrowing, begging, stealing until North Sea oil comes in,� said Henry Kissinger in 1978. The Wall Street Journal was blunter: �Goodbye, Great Britain: it was nice knowing you�.
But look what happened next. This happened. It is one of our national tragedies that we tend to leave things until almost too late. But, when we rouse ourselves, we are capable of extraordinary resolve.

The timing is a bit off for us, as Britain will rid itself of its Labour Government sooner than we can. But 18 months passed between Thatcher and Reagan. I find myself both keenly interested in what is happening in Great Britain, and optimistic that the US has the same extraordinary resolve Mr. Hannan sees in the British.

Labels: America, Reagan