For as long as the UK has a government with a philosophy to make citizens depend on the state, believing that those who govern know best how to run the lives of others, dependency as a national epidemic will grow.
Survival in the modern world, whether personal or national, is perhaps a function of balancing a complex tapestry of independence, dependence and interdependence. The ability to achieve that balance perhaps also requires a degree of strength, whether mental, physical, military or in resources, from which to manage important relationships. In the UK today there is a severe risk that dependence, independence and interdependence are so out of kilter that there is excessive personal and national uncertainty and lack of direction.
PEOPLE, DEPENDENCE AND NO CAN DO
All of us depend on certain basics being available from sources outside our control: for food very few people are entirely independent but look to the retail system to provide, which in turn depends on farmers and so on. For energy, and water, without which nothing can work, we rely on huge utilities, which in turn especially when it comes to energy depend on power sources, oil, gas, coal and renewables like wind. And here ultimate dependence on the State organising these things to keep running is inevitable. At the other extreme do we not all have a duty to be independent, to work to pay for ourselves and our families, and for that we need education where we depend on others? Interdependence is key: where we are mutually dependent on each other, all people have to pull their weight and not be lightly relieved of this responsibility.
The growing number of children being labelled as needy and dependent on help forever is frightening and well-rehearsed publicly. So called SEND children increase in number and take an ever-larger share of the education money pie. Are such labels handed out too readily? It manifests itself in the millions of unemployed NEETS who are not learning either. 21% of the working age population is not working but depending on others.
The entire welfare state is unaffordable but there is no plan to address change to reduce cost, indeed the Government rule that out. A complete dereliction of duty. Can do needs to replace cannot do. And that must start at home and in schools, but there is no sign of that resilience training. Strength to manage, get on with things, overcome adversity, not complaining but enduring and striving used to be admirable and admired qualities, essential to succeed. Have we gone too far to the other extreme of endlessly airing problems, not solving them, turning to therapy, or worse a drug, to take away the pain? Recommending rest and reclusiveness, rather than running off the injury. Could it be that pain along with making mistakes is perhaps the greatest learning tool?
Easy fixes are touted rather than resilience. To reduce fat, it perhaps is a soft way out to use an expensive drug like Ozempic, risking unknown side effects: lifestyle change must surely be better especially when science suggests that, once people come off the drug, weight simply returns. To combat depression, too readily diagnosed millions have become drug dependent and now the medical profession seems to be back tracking on drug usage. Fresh air, exercise and interaction with nature and people, and working, may be better pills, and less bitter, for stress, anxiety and depression which people seem so willing to succumb to: certainly better than staying home wrapped in a duvet with a screen for company.
Unfortunately, we have a Government which seems only too keen to make people dependent on benefits and other state provided aid rather than reliance on self-help and relationships with family and friends.
DEPENDENCE CREATES A WEAK STATE
With the highest cost of energy in the developed world, the UK is, according to reports from U.S. investors, becoming too expensive for investment. Irrationally compared to most of the world, the UK is making itself dependent on oil and gas imports while shutting down the North Sea and eschewing fracking. The world’s carbon footprint does not go down because of the UK policy, but domestic energy costs go up, and UK industry is weakened: and the UK becomes dependent when it could be mostly energy independent. It makes no sense. To make it worse the UK is about to cede control of UK energy policy to Brussels. Why create more dependence over a fundamental necessity?
A lot of manufacturing depends on chemicals. The UK’s chemical industry, once a mainstay, has been dismantled, not just by cheap and subsidised Chinese imports, but due to energy costs. As a result, the UK has no capacity to make ammonia or sulphuric acid, and so it cannot make its own ammunition to defend itself. It depends on the USA or an acknowledged enemy, China. Fatal dependency. Similarly, soda ash, needed to make glass, paper, and lots of other things, as the UK Lostock plant closed last year, imports must be the cure. And then salt where the Runcorn plant is threatened with closure, and so the UK will become dependent elsewhere for enough salt for the population. These strategic dependencies are created by sleeping Governments, weakening the UK as a nation.
Then food. The national food strategy may have faults, but it at least commits the Government to greater self-sufficiency and sustainable farming. And the Government seems not to encourage farming, but in fact is negotiating even greater dependence on EU imports to make us allegedly economically better off. But a lot of the imports are, it is well known, of lesser quality than fresh local produce and lasts little time. A political drive to cosy up to Europe will inevitably degrade local farming, following on from giving away UK fish to European fishermen. The UK produces about 55% of food the country needs: otherwise, it depends on foreign sources.
The list of dependencies grows. China has a long-term strategy to weaken Western democracies and become the most influential nation on the planet. It floods Europe and the UK with cheap steel, subsidised, to destroy the steel industries and create dependencies. Electric vehicles the same. It has been allowed to create a global monopoly in rare earths so vital for sophisticated products, even defence equipment, including also cars. In healthcare its drugs and medical equipment grow market share, and the UK is watching its biggest company, Astra Zeneca, invest billions in China for drug development and production, rather than in the UK. Will the UK become even more dependent on the Chinese Communist Party under Starmer’s wooing China for healthcare? Madness if so. For microchips the UK depends on the USA and Taiwan, and China but less so. For processed uranium, the UK, like many others, depends on Russia to some degree, and so nuclear capacity, a bedrock of energy policy, is so dependent.
And UK dependence on the USA for its nuclear deterrent, other sophisticated defence systems, advanced technology, health products and many other essentials makes it impossible in the medium term even for the UK to be strong and so have leverage when the USA threatens it or makes demands or condescends to negotiate.
There will always be a dependence to some degree in many areas on other nations, and that is what allies are for. But there must be mutuality and that comes from strength not the begging bowl approach to negotiation which this Government exhibits, for example with both the EU and the USA. Good trading relations are essential, including with China, and Starmer is right to maximise channels, but not if it means taking scraps patronisingly dropped on the proverbial political floor or diminishing our independence.
Immigration in the UK has become so emotionally charged that rational policy is almost impossible. The UK will in the foreseeable future need a level of immigration to fill gaps in skills and workplaces generally. But dependency on immigrants drives a poor local culture. Many dislike Brexit because it cost the UK cheap Eastern European labour on which it depended: but that masked local failings. That swathes of locally trained doctors are out of work or cannot advance due to immigrant medics is simply wrong and stupid. Yet in other industries, people from abroad are much needed, engineers and construction and care workers for example. But reduced dependency is essential and here Government is derelict in its approach, still not implementing a balanced plan. Focus on reducing illegal boat people is necessary but remains a small piece of the picture of immigration.
DEPENDENCY IN KILTER
Drug dependency, digital dependency, social media dependency, and dependency on the State to live are bad for individuals. Dependence on AI can be anticipated. Dependency for the State on any particular country or corporation for critical goods or services is disastrous, especially if that country is evidently hostile in intent. China is risk one here. The USA is two and Europe is three. Just like its citizens, the UK State needs to be strong in all critical sectors, say defence, healthcare, energy, and food with related interdependent industries. Only then can it outsource from other countries sensibly and with leverage and so, in Trump parlance, do beneficial deals. We need a Government that understands how to do these things not one peopled with political idealists with no experience of commerce or business or harsh realities, especially not human rights or left-wing extremists. As it stands, dependency on other nations is increasing, and a reverse gear is needed.
It’s time for can-do to escape the dependence trap.
See also: – Dependency- A Dangerous Disease – Time for Undepependence in order to Level Up – Can-do Approach will Revive the UK
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