Britain is no longer a superpower and must deal with superpowers, as must all second-division states. But in one respect it is unique. Its soft power is probably equal to none, notably its cultural and teaching assets. It has educated more world leaders – apparently 50 – and takes in more Chinese students than any other country including the US. It also welcomes half a million Chinese tourists a year, many drawn by aspects of British popular culture. We do not measure soft power, but its influence cannot be negligible – and is certainly profitable.
It is therefore absurd that the British government is planning to splurge billions more on defending Britain from a purely notional third world war. At the same time it is slashing the budget of its overseas cultural institution, the British Council. The council is being forced to withdraw from 60 countries and sell its entire property portfolio.
As an artsy type Sir Simon doesn’t grasp that the arts don’t in fact matter. Not in hte sense he’s talking about here that is.
Sure, sure, Shakes and Milty and all are enriching for the soul. But they don’t stop J Foreigner stealin’ our stuff. Squaddies do do that stopping. So, the arts don’t matter in the sense of stopping J Foreigner etc.
But that’s the claim Sir S does try to make. Forget having even a regiment of foot left and send rainbow doldo butt monkey off to entertain instead.
Umm, No.
The argument is of course that the British Council will so entrance foreign types that they will be less likely to declare war, so we can save a few quid on tanks. I think this is fair enough, or would be if the British Council was promoting the likes of Shakespeare and Milton and British cultural exceptionalism.
Let’s see…. the British Council in Hong Kong seems to focus on teaching English and events like the following: Panel Discussion on Sustainability in the Arts, Five Films For Freedom, an online celebration of global LGBTQIA+ and a report on ‘Hong Kong’s receptiveness to the arts as an agent for well-being’. There’s a thing about Henry Moore too, but mostly it’s the same old worthless shit. And teaching the world’s most widely-spoken language.
To demonstrate our ‘soft power’, I suggest a tour of modern British cultural icons around China. Let’s send Stormzy, Bob Vylan, Alan Carr, Nish Kumar and Fatiha El-Ghorri (look her up) under the supervision of Sir Lenny Henry to show them what the best of British really means.
I actually think most defence spending is a waste, that cui bono of someone going to war with us. But I’ll err on the side of caution.
This is what really pisses me off though: “It’s ridiculous for the government to splurge on defence while it slashes spending on its most valuable asset: culture”
Go to the uktravel reddit and you can see what foreigners come here for. It’s Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, York, The British Museum, Stonehenge, Harry Potter World, Stratford-Upon-Avon. They want to go to the crossing at Abbey Road. People like either our old stuff or they like the stuff the private sector makes. Lacock and Bath had their visitors boosted with Harry Potter and Bridgerton.
Sir Simon’s thing is spending money on his favourite things, probably orchestras and old churches, but you can’t create that. We’ve been trying it since WW2 with the Arts Council and it’s a failure. Culture is organic, about people. Make more movies and music and some of it sticks. Cutting tax cuts on movies means people come and make them here and maybe they need an interesting place for a scene and now, people want to come here for it.
Maybe, but to the author popular culture is the wrong kind of culture. It’s not Culture.
British Council probably funds the same crap that USAid did.
Nothing of value will be lost when both are gone.
As for where to send rainbow doldo butt monkey…
It is therefore absurd that the British government is planning to splurge billions more on defending Britain from a purely notional third world war. At the same time it is slashing the budget of its overseas cultural institution, the British Council. The council is being forced to withdraw from 60 countries and sell its entire property portfolio.
We can’t afford either, but BAE will be pleased at the government spunking billions more on a tiny number of bespoke high end weapons systems that will run out of ammo and be forced to surrender within a couple of weeks of high intensity warfare.
If they were serious about defence (lol, I know) the focus would be on mass. War is a wholesale business, not a cottage industry. War doesn’t care about you “punching above your weight” when the other guy is bigger and able to land enough punches to stove your head in.
So, start by abolishing the RAF. The RAF was a mistake that has been allowed to continue for over a century despite its malign influence in degrading our much more important naval aviation. Air power should be an integral part of the army and navy, not an independent force. Abolish the RAF and reinvest the savings in things we do need: more men, more munitions, and more aircraft. In that order.
The RAF has been allowed to get away with it because of the legend of the Battle of Britain. But it’s not the 40’s anymore, and we can’t defend ourselves with sentiment. The current RAF is more famous for discrimination against white men than winning wars. Abolish them.