Shocks pound Britain

Is Britain growing out of growth? Strange questions beget strange answers.

- ANITA PRATAP

The response raises the prospect of human redundancy as the evolving economy makes segments of workers increasingly unnecessary to produce services and goods. Data now appears to support prophecy. In his book Home Deus, published a decade ago, historian Yuval Harari predicted the rise of the “useless class” made redundant by technology. Lording over the disempowered are the “Gods”, a tiny elite that amasses wealth, power and production. This is Harari’s “history of the future”.

The future, as always, is already here, manifesting in some corner of the world. Britain has been hammered by many shocks—financial crisis, Covid, Brexit and now a global trade war ignited by the unpredictable President Donald Trump whose strategic weapon of choice is the wrecking ball. Britain has come a long way from the East India Company days, but it is still a trade-dependent nation.