The G7 summit in France has descended into the predictable theatre of street brawls and ministerial hand-wringing. While tear gas clouds billow through Biarritz, British diplomats are frantically peddling a ‘stability agenda’ as though economic calm can be imposed by press release. This is the same crowd that lectured Rome on fiscal prudence while the Vandals were at the gates.
The modern liberal order loves a good crisis, provided it remains a talking point. One wonders if the Victorians would have tolerated such pageantry. Probably not; they were too busy building empires, not managing their decline.
