[Z]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I agree, I swear the Tories have actually lost it this time, nothing they do seems to benefit the majority.

It's because they know that there is no majority support for them so they're going to drive the country into the ground to make it hard for the inevitable left-wing leadership that takes up the mantle after them. If they manage to ruin the country enough, the left-wing party that comes in after them will fail to turn it around, people will accuse them of being crap and the Tories will hope to storm into power after 4 years and continue where they left off with a more Tory-esque playing field (rather than the Labour-economic-crisis one they inherited)... I'm so sure of it.

Britain hasn't been a world power for a very long time, we've been America's favourite pet for decades but anyone who likes to think it's an equal partnership is sadly misinformed. The only difference between America and Russia is that America treats its satellite states (i.e. Western Europe) with praise and a facade of respect, but should any of us fall out of line, the response is cold, as shown by the Syria situation. Russia treats its satellite states with bullying tactics to get them to fall in line. Neither country really cares about any of the states on its side, they just use them to achieve greater end goals. China has sprung up as a major world power which Russia embraces and the USA doesn't, because the USA is terrified of losing its grip on world power. The UK is too, but British leaders don't want to accept that it happened decades ago when Europe was engaged in World War II and the USA became an economic powerhouse and took control of the world.

As Toy Soldier said, George Osborne is jealous because Chinese citizens offer total subservience to their leadership, for fear of the consequences. Britain has reached a plateau of equality and freedom of speech that, although there are a multitude of problems with it, basically means that people have become lazy and won't do things if they don't suit them. We can never be a world power again, unless by some miracle there is some kind of commodity that is found in large quantities on British territory that can be found nowhere else. It's how Russia became an energy giant and it's how China became a workforce giant because the sheer scale of those resources is staggering.