Britain is Doomed...

I've finally figured it out. We're all doomed. But it's not global warming or radical islam we need to be worried about. The biggest danger Britain faces is actually ourselves.

Have you noticed really what a bunch of miserable buggers we are?

In Britain, it seems the desire to moan about our problems is rapidly overtaking the desire to actually do anything about them.

I figured this out as Tina and I started trying to find apartments and cars in America. We asked and we got a lot of information - but instead of getting the skinny on what we SHOULD do, all people told us was what we SHOULDN'T.

Don't move there, it's ghetto.

Don't work for them, they don't pay enough.

Don't buy that make of car, they're unreliable.

That's too expensive. That's too cheap. That's too far away. That's too near.

It suddenly twigged in my brain. THIS is what's holding us back. Our own bloody attitudes.

Look back at history. To the days when the British Empire ruled a quarter of the globe and the Royal Navy dominated the seas. How did we Brits achieve that?

It certainly wasn't by sitting on our backsides, scoffing cookies into our mouth. Do you think Doctor David Livingston ever said to himself: "I don't want to go and explore Africa. Dirt. Flies. Mosquitos. Bugger that for a game of soldiers."

Check out Cecil Rhodes, who said "I want to paint the globe red" and headed off to Africa to claim it for Britain. They named a bloody country after him! You certainly don't get a country named after you if all you dream of doing is getting chosen to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Here's what's wrong with Britain today. We're so preoccupied with what we CAN'T do that we've forgotton to slog on and achieve what we CAN.

Tina's favourite phrase du jour is an ancient Chinese proverb: The Person Who Says it Cannot be Done should not interrupt the Person Doing It.

Let's look at another dominant force in history. America.

Look at the foundation of the United States. Thirteen British colonies who got sick of being taxed without having a say in the matter (it's a misconception that they rebelled against excessive taxing. The tax levels were quite low - but the colonies had no say over the level of taxation or how it was spent.)

If modern attitudes prevailed, the founding fathers would have sat around their local, quaffing pints and complaining about the fussy Brits interferring with how their lives are run - kind of like modern British people do with the Europeon Union.

But instead, the founding fathers started a movement that gave birth to the modern world's first democracy. They decided what they wanted, got up off their backsides and went out to achieve it, despite the obstacles in their way.

It's the American way, isn't it?

1. Decide what you want.


2. Get off your arse.


3. Achieve it.

Distilled down to it's purest form, that's what the American dream is all about.

Think of all the millions of people who left their homes to journey to The New World. The Irish, fleeing the potato famine. The Jews, fleeing persecution in Europe. The Germans - out to grab land in the same way they still like to grab sunbeds. In a global act of Darwinism, the most adventurous and ambitious people went to the New World and became the American people. It's that spirit of endevour that's at the very heart of everything American.

But there's no British equivilant to the American's Dream. Britain has brushed it's imperialistic heritage under an apologetic carpet. Are there any explorers or entrepreneurs left out there?

I don't think so.

Just look at most people's ambitions. The paper printed a list recently. What does the average youngster want to do?

1. Become a pop-star on Pop Idol


2. Marry a premier league footballer and spend his money on designer handbags


3. Win the lottery

It seems modern ambitions revolve around the principle of winning fame, fortune and glory without ever having to make an effort.

And the people who still have an ounce of ambition left? That's soon trodden into the dirt by the prevailing defeatist attitude. People are always focused on what you CAN'T do. Not what you can. There's always a reason why it's not worth getting up off the sofa.

And the terrible thing?

500,000 immigrants arrive in Britain every year willing to do what we won't. They'll live ten to a house, work ninety hour weeks and stack shelves for a living with the stubborn ambition of making their lives whatever they want them to be.

What could we, as a nation, achieve if we still had that spirit of enterprise?