In the latest chapter of what can only be described as the Great European Farce, British diplomats have swooped into Pakistan to rescue a French hostage abandoned by their own government. Yes, you read that correctly. The French citizen, kidnapped by militants, was left to rot while Paris fiddled with bureaucracy.
London, ever the pragmatist, did what France could not: it acted. This is not charity. This is a painful reminder of the hierarchy of nations.
When the chips are down, the British Empire’s ghost still knows how to get things done. The French, meanwhile, are busy debating the colour of their berets. We live in an age of intellectual decadence where moral posturing trumps action.
France has become a museum of good intentions, while Britain, for all its modern flaws, retains a shred of imperial instinct. The hostage is safe. But the real story is the collapse of continental competence.
The fall of Rome did not happen overnight. It happened when one province had to rescue another’s citizens. Sound familiar?
