Germany’s per capita GDP has also stagnated: Thats because you chose the date as 2010. I was comparing to the 2008 peak and in comparison UK has gone down but Germany is up. The UK does somewhat worse than the others.
Now on top of this stagnation Brexit will make it worse because you will lose the vast majority of your trading advantages. There’s no magical resurgence that’s going to happen.
As for empire nostalgia as someone who moved from a colony it’s actually quite evident in the politics here. That there is some magic sauce in this tiny island which will allow it to somehow return to glory all by itself.
A poll by YouGov showed that 27 % of Britons want Britain to still have an empire. Closely followed by Netherlands at 26 % and France at 17 %. So these people exist. They are not a fantasy and there’s polling data to show it.
My point wasn’t that they vote for brexit because of the empire. But it feeds into a sense of exceptionalism and megalomania that goes into decisions like Brexit which the vast majority of international observers of the situation agree is a very foolish decision.
It’s just like voting for Trump. Everyone outside the US could plainly see the idiocy and hordes of people would descend to defend it while every passing day exposes it for the foolishness it was. Same will be the case here.
The UK is a financial centre, obviously if you pick as your start date a financial bubble it will look different.
But 10 years have passed. You were misleading people when you tried to imply that Brexit had something to do with GDP per capita statistics. It clearly doesn't. And many argue it's the other way around: the EU is the cause of the stagnation.
As for empire nostalgia as someone who moved from a colony it’s actually quite evident in the politics here
Evident in the politics? If it's evident then evidence it. You're seeing what you want to see: I can't recall any politicians talking about Empire. It never comes up. It's not even taught in school. The "people used to the glories of the empire" as you put it are virtually all dead. Nobody cares.
As for polls, they routinely show all kinds of garbage when pollsters ask questions that don't matter. For example 4% Americans believe the Earth is run by a conspiracy of lizards, and 7% aren't sure:
If some random person wasted my time by asking me if I'd like Britain to still have an empire, I'd probably say, sure why not? Empires have their benefits. Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. That doesn't mean I'd think about it even one iota the rest of the time. Heck there was an HN thread just a few days ago about colonialism, that was the first time I'd seen it come up in years.
it feeds into a sense of exceptionalism and megalomania
The majority of the British voting population are not megalomaniacs. Listen to yourself. The very concept is absurd.
Anyway, if you're really convinced the UK is filled with delusional imperialist megalomaniacs, why not leave? You clearly have no respect for the country.
Germany’s per capita GDP has also stagnated: Thats because you chose the date as 2010. I was comparing to the 2008 peak and in comparison UK has gone down but Germany is up. The UK does somewhat worse than the others.
Now on top of this stagnation Brexit will make it worse because you will lose the vast majority of your trading advantages. There’s no magical resurgence that’s going to happen.
As for empire nostalgia as someone who moved from a colony it’s actually quite evident in the politics here. That there is some magic sauce in this tiny island which will allow it to somehow return to glory all by itself.
A poll by YouGov showed that 27 % of Britons want Britain to still have an empire. Closely followed by Netherlands at 26 % and France at 17 %. So these people exist. They are not a fantasy and there’s polling data to show it.
My point wasn’t that they vote for brexit because of the empire. But it feeds into a sense of exceptionalism and megalomania that goes into decisions like Brexit which the vast majority of international observers of the situation agree is a very foolish decision.
It’s just like voting for Trump. Everyone outside the US could plainly see the idiocy and hordes of people would descend to defend it while every passing day exposes it for the foolishness it was. Same will be the case here.