Her reputation was greatly damaged
Fall of Kabul puts an end to British claims to global supremacy
The Conservative Party's lie as a "bridge" across the Atlantic has been shattered.
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After the humiliation in Afghanistan, the arrogance and delusion of 'Great Britain' is over. No more ridiculous bragging, no more claims of 'world supremacy' and 'global leadership', but it is time for an honest review of who we are, what We can do, and what we clearly can't do.”
Britain, "whose foundation gnaws at it," has done untold damage to its reputation in recent years. John Casson, the ambassador who had just served in Egypt, tweeted wistfully stressing the failure of his country's long-term goals of leadership in the European Union; and its impact on its dealings with development; And helping Afghanistan to get better, it all failed.
The government’s recent “integrated review” of defense and foreign policy appears hollow: leaning towards the Pacific, escalation in Africa, NATO command in Europe, and careful handling of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, spending, spending, then spending on additional nuclear warheads. Even with the defense's untenable £16 billion budget increase, Britain cannot continue to pretend it "has a responsibility it can't really afford".
Let's ask this question: What is the real weight of the United Kingdom? Forget her "past victory in the conquests", and try to measure things more intelligently. We know what we're bad at, we know all those familiar British follies and failures - so we should think about what we're really good at: Britain should build so-called "soft power" not to repeat imperial illusions by other means: every country has soft power in his own domain. Good governments look after those assets, but our government does the opposite.
We refer in this regard to the brutal "culture war" policies waged by the government, which is in fact a war on culture.
Why is this war eating up Britain's best symbols?
The BBC, whose funding has been reduced by 30% since 2010, is under severe threat, despite being not only the UK's most trusted news brand, but also America's most trusted.
How precious is Channel 4, which is now up for privatization, is being sold cheaply and is the lifeblood of much creativity in the UK.
Why do we sell it?
The first act of the former chancellor, George Osborne, in 2010 was to cut the Arts Council of England budget by a third and museums by 15%.
Now he is rewarded with the presidency of the British Museum, he may wander in its halls, and contemplate how the culture of the country, and all that remains of its civilizations when we are all dead.
The British Council, a global ambassador for our culture, language and history, is encouraging international students to come to the UK, but it is barely making a splash - 2,000 of its jobs are expected to be cut and it exits 20 countries. However, our experts understand the finer details of this council's international influence, as the council's report on global perceptions of the UK says: "When government seeks to exploit soft power, it ends up spurning the allure and trust generated by assets such as the arts and educational institutions." The report advises the government "to look after these assets," but the report also says that they then "get out of the way." The same is happening in schools, with huge cuts in the music, arts and drama budget, and with universities arts departments shrinking by 50%, will kill the seed of creativity in the future.
This cultural war on universities cannot be justified at this time, as we complain that we have too many graduates rather than brag that four British universities are ranked tenth in the world, because because of these universities a quarter - yes, a quarter of all world leaders have been educated In Britain, it is an influence of value that knows no bounds.
Scientific research, especially first-class biotechnology in Britain, is supported by the government, although the UK still spends less on research and development than the OECD average.
The quality of national impact is an intangible value that cannot be described or measured.
Some countries are admired for their generosity, such as Germany, which is so admired for its reception of immigrants.
How strange it was to hear the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, last week deceptively describe Britain as a "big-hearted nation", even as the Department blows fire on migrants and the State Department oversees cuts in foreign aid.
The effect always stems from a good example.
But Boris Johnson will struggle to lead the next climate talks even as he opens a coal mine, drills new oil fields in the North Sea, delays shutting down gas boilers and fails to install charging points for electric cars.
'Leading by example' is a lost cause for Britain under a leader who is not widely respected at home or abroad.
Football is another thing in which Britain stands out well: in Yangon, Myanmar, a taxi driver immediately asked me which Premier League team I support - a common experience for Britons abroad.
But again, the seed died when 710 football fields were closed since 2010.
Johnson's government is a group of racist global Millwall fans, who chant "Nobody loves us, we don't care" for all of our neighbours.
Abandoned by the United States, the Conservative Party's lie as a transatlantic “bridge” has been shattered on both sides.
The question is why the party despise and belittle most of the things that could earn Britain respect.
British soft power doesn't need to brag or claim world supremacy - we just have to be good enough, hoping we can repair the damage.
Soft power probably spreads because of the things governments do to make people happy, but the UK just slipped from 13th to 18th in this year's United Nations World Happiness Report.
Poor Afghanistan came last, as measured by the Taliban's return to power.
Like Aesop's fairy tale about the competition between the sun and the wind, we could have done better in Afghanistan if all the firepower unleashed during the invasion had been replaced by the projection of soft power.
If this sounds sentimental in a land of terror, we just have to remember that the Western campaign will not be bad at its paradoxical mission, if it combines the hard and the soft, of demolishing and building the nation simultaneously.
Osborne's first act, in 2010, was to cut the Arts Council of England budget by a third and museums by 15%. Now he is rewarded with the presidency of the British Museum, he may wander in its halls, and contemplate how the culture of the country, and all that remains of its civilizations when we are all dead.
This cultural war on universities cannot be justified at this time, as we are complaining that we have too many graduates rather than boasting that four British universities are ranked tenth in the world. Because it is because of these universities that a quarter of - yes, a quarter of all world leaders have been educated in Britain, an influence of infinite value.
• Polly Toynbee .. columnist for the newspaper «The Guardian»
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