“Perhaps, if one is permitted to draw a lesson at such a dramatic moment, his excess of programmatic Europeanism, coupled with a lack of pragmatic Europeanism, has ultimately turned against him. If he had succeeded in realising at least some of the projects he announced, if he had really dared to share with his allies the military and nuclear supremacy he wields in Europe, France and Europe themselves would not be reduced to this pitiful state today.”
Browsing: Media opinion 4
Such demands stand on shaky moral ground. The contention that slavery gave rise to British wealth appears unfounded, with generations of motivated activists attempting to find some way in which the Industrial Revolution and Britain’s subsequent economic growth derived from the trade, and in each case appearing to fall short… the argument that those living today have a moral responsibility to make amends for the sins of their forefathers can be rejected out of hand. Britain has not sought compensation from Denmark for the depredations of the Vikings, or from North Africa for the acts of the Barbary corsairs.
In the absence of new infrastructure and technology, the shift to more intermittent sources of power could leave the national grid more vulnerable to power cuts than it has been for decades… The health of the country’s economy — and the willingness of other countries to follow — may very well ride on the experiment’s success.