The End of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and its longstanding pursuit of Brexit go hand-in-hand, testament to a ruling ideology that can best be described as a toxic combination of narcissistic nostalgia on speed and a deeply reactionary social darwinist view of the world. The roots of this bizarre ideology lie deep in an English exceptionalism, in part the engine, in part the legacy, of Empire. It is this exceptionalism that offers an explanation, or at least a partial one, of both Brexit and the UK’s response to the pandemic, as well as a basis on which to speculate about the UK’s future.