It has been 200 years since the industrial revolution - we know exactly what makes a society rich. Creating, or at least controlling, vast amounts of capital. A

It has been 200 years since the industrial revolution - we know exactly what makes a society rich. Creating, or at least controlling, vast amounts of capital. Although it would be a mistake for the UK to be benchmarking itself against the rest of western Europe; much of the continent appears to be in trouble. The real question is why all the capital formation seems to have been in Asia for the last 50 years. As for the UK, to get into such a position they're going to have to recognise that to get to this sort of state they can't have had pro-prosperity governance for decades. It takes 20-40 years for a lack of investment to start to show up in reality.