The spectacle of Niagara Falls playing host to World Cup viewings has predictably ignited a debate. Not about the sublime power of nature, or the beautiful game, but about tourism. Specifically, the eternal British preoccupation with whether we are losing our edge.
The premise is simple: a temporary viewing platform erected by the falls draws crowds. A few British holidaymakers share their Instagram stories. Immediately, the chattering classes conclude that the UK has lost its monopoly on superlative experiences.
This is nonsense, but it is a revealing nonsense. We are witnessing, yet again, the peculiar British talent for interpreting any global event as a referendum on our own national standing. The Victorians, who built the railways to the falls and sold the experience as a pilgrimage, would be amused.
They understood that tourism is not a zero-sum game. The Great Exhibition of 1851 did not destroy provincial fairs; it raised the tide. Similarly, a World Cup viewing in Ontario does not diminish the charm of a pub in Stoke-on-Trent.
What it does is highlight the intellectual decadence of a class that sees competition where there is only complementarity. The real question is not whether Niagara Falls will steal our tourists. The question is whether we have the imagination to build spectacles that are not merely bombastic but meaningful.
The falls are a natural wonder. Our heritage is a human one. The two are not interchangeable.
We should stop this juvenile hand-wringing and recognise that a rising tide of global tourism lifts all boats, even those moored on the Thames. The only thing drowning here is our own confidence.
