'We Are Being Levelled Down’: Why the UK’s Wealth Gap Is Widening
The UK has entered the institutional reform phase. Like Italy in the early 90s, it has become convinced that the country does not work because some random institutions need changing. In Italy it was `equal bicameralism`, the organisation of administrative divisions (regions and provinces), and other stuff not worth discussing here. In the UK, the institutional reform phase consists of Brexit, Scottish independence and, more recently, &#x27;charter cities&#x27; and the abolition of the House of Lords. All this while taxes on productive activities (let it be labour or corporation tax) are increased, public investments are cut and the quality of public services is declining on a daily basis. The country is wondering why the NHS can&#x27;t hire personnel, while a junior doctor in the UK has less purchasing power than a German janitor and nurses resort to food banks.<p>The fact that since 2010 this country has been ruled by people whose main qualification is being children or husbands of rich people, doesn&#x27;t help. From this cold island, Ursula von der Leyen, a failed German politician, looks like a monumental stateswoman.