UK Capitalism’s Real Scandal Is What’s Tolerated

The dark chuckles from colleagues should have been a warning. Just over a year ago, I returned to London after three decades in Asia and wrote about how glad I was to be here. It elicited a less-than-laudatory reaction in some quarters. Give it a few months, I was told. The implication was that it was only a matter of time until I sank to the default level of misery of the local populace.

I’m still an optimist. It’s refreshing to live in a country that continues to prize the liberal values of freedom of speech and democratic accountability. The way senior government ministers present themselves to be challenged, dissected and sometimes skewered on BBC radio every morning is a thing of wonder. That novelty hasn’t worn off. In general life, people more often than not are courteous, good-natured and polite (with some notable exceptions, such as those who drive cars). All the same, I can’t claim the cynics were entirely wrong.