Bill Bryson: Britain ideal place for Communism

Thirty years ago, in Notes From A Small Island, Bill Bryson, the most famous British writer ever to come from Des Moines IA, had this to say about the suitability of Not-so-great Britain for the Communist social experiment.

It has long seemed to me unfortunate...that such an important experiment in social organization [as Communism] was left to the Russians when the British would have managed it so much better. All those things that are necessary to the successful implementation of a rigorous socialist system are...second nature to the British. 

For a start, they like going without. They are great at pulling together, particularly in the face of adversity, for a perceived common good. 

They will queue patiently for indefinite periods and accept with rare fortitude the imposition of rationing, bland diets and sudden inconvenient shortages of staple goods, as anyone who has ever looked for bread at a supermarket on a Saturday afternoon will know. 

They are comfortable with faceless bureaucracies and, as Mrs. Thatcher proved, tolerant of dictatorships. They will wait uncomplainingly for years for an operation or the delivery of a household appliance. 

They have a natural gift for making excellent jokes about authority without seriously challenging it, and they derive universal satisfaction from the sight of the rich and powerful brought low. Most of those above the age of twenty-five already dress like [east Europeans]. 

The conditions, in a word, are right.

Roughly a year after Mr Bryson's highly recommendable book appeared, Sir Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Bliar ascended to the leadership of the Labour half of the Uniparty* and became Prime Minister of the Disunitede Kingdom. Evidently he had read the book, for he did his damndest to turn Britain, if not Red, then deep Pinko.

He failed, of course, because Margaret Thatcher had made it politically impossible to renationalize the steel industry, railways, etc., and not enough Third World migrants -- legal and otherwise -- had been "welcomed" to the green and septic isle to complete the transition to totalitarianism.

Fast forward to July of 2024 when British voters, having tired of a succession of feckless and inept "Conservative" governments, gave the Labourites 411 seats in a general election, whereupon the equally feckless and inept King Charles III invited Sir Keir Starmer (to be played in the movie by Sir Michael Palin) to form the next government and lead Britain down the People's Path to, errr... thingy... you know....

The Starmer government quickly set new records for incompetence, DEI, and geneeral wokeness in the face of common sense. Of 122 ministers appointed by the New Dear Leader, 18 have resigned, 1 has been dismissed, and 20 have left to spend more time with their families. [These figures are from Wikipedia, so should be taken cum grano salis. Ed.]

Given the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to show buyer's remorse, the British electorate gave Sir Keir's Labour Party (and, it must be said, the "Conservatives" as well) a rirhgt thrashing in a local elections bloodbath which saw it routed on English councils, and destroyed in Wales and Scotland. See *"Uniparty politics FAILS in UK...", WWW 10/5/26.

Does this mean that Bill Bryson was wrong? I think not. It's just that his timing was off. If Sir Keir can somehow cling to power through one more election [I'll take that bet. Ed.], he and his Pinko friends may yet reduce No-longer-great Britain to the level which prompted Mr Bryson to  write what he did. IMHO, Britain is fecked (as the Irish say) but I don't expect to be proven right until... maybe this fall!