I've long enjoyed the blooper from Richard Lederer's collection that asserted "The sun never sets on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the east and the sun sets in the west."
Though empires are out of fashion , British colonies universally benefited from the British empire. The ones who are thriving today owe a huge debt of gratitude, and the languishing ones are that way because they decided not to continue the British tradition.
The 20th century decline of the British empire is one of civilization's worst failures, on par with the decline of the Roman Empire.
I was listening to Dominic Sandbrook the other day (from "The Rest is History" podcast). His point was that if you had to pick any empire through history to live in (without knowing your place in it - a sort of Rawlsian Veil), you would probably pick the British Empire. It wasn't perfect, but more benevolent than a lot of other empires.
> British colonies universally benefited from the British empire
Yeah, the 100-200 million Indians who were killed by the East India Company through famines after being forced to raise opium instead of grain to help EIC to sell opium to kill 10-20 million Chinese every year would definitely agree...
The sun does not set on the French Empire is still alive with french Guyanna in South America, Mayotte and la Réunion in Africa and New Caledonia and French Polynesia in Pacific Ocean.
I’ve been really sad getting older and having so much more context on Britain. My family weirdly had access to all of British TV in US growing up and they had fantastic programs.
Now, I feel they are a joke. They seem like a strong example of what absolutely not to do. Their cultural exports have sunk. The arrested citizens for social media posts seems draconian. The economy barely hanging on.
I understand the Media has a bias and they been hitting the UK hard since Brexit (liberals think it ended the world) and now even conservative/alternative media hates UK for the pro-immigration stances.
With all that said even trying very hard to find things to like about the UK in a neutral way (I am a fan of PG, who I assume makes very smart decisions) I think the country is completely toast. Worse off than SPAIN! I never had a high opinion of Spain but it looks more likely to outgrow its troubles than the UK.
Prince Andrew and Kate seem nice. The British countryside seems nice. But what else will these people ever be capable of again?
When I read or interact with Britains irl I lump them in one of the lowest buckets for intellectual conversation. Does anyone have any hope for Britain to share or at least data to tell me I’m wrong about the UK?
This is great! It’s high time a brutal empire that starved Ireland and India and created the situation that resulted in the genocide in Palestine loses its literal shine.
Honestly it is crazy that this country still exists as a monarchy in the 21st century.
That being said, I don't think the sun can ever set on the British Empire, because the empire shifted to a financial once as opposed to one based on the idea of controlling physical land. You'd have to take out its entire financial/banking network spread out across the world for the sun to "set" on it.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 46.4 ms ] threadAm I the only one getting this ?
I think I saw it in the fortune file first.
(original url sometimes times out)
On Friday 21st March 2025, the sun will set on the British "Empire" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41957938 - Oct 2024 (23 comments)
When (if ever) did the Sun set on the British Empire? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40631309 - June 2024 (41 comments)
Hard to think otherwise as they have the same king.
The 20th century decline of the British empire is one of civilization's worst failures, on par with the decline of the Roman Empire.
Yeah, the 100-200 million Indians who were killed by the East India Company through famines after being forced to raise opium instead of grain to help EIC to sell opium to kill 10-20 million Chinese every year would definitely agree...
https://yourstory.com/2014/08/bengal-famine-genocide
Now, I feel they are a joke. They seem like a strong example of what absolutely not to do. Their cultural exports have sunk. The arrested citizens for social media posts seems draconian. The economy barely hanging on.
I understand the Media has a bias and they been hitting the UK hard since Brexit (liberals think it ended the world) and now even conservative/alternative media hates UK for the pro-immigration stances.
With all that said even trying very hard to find things to like about the UK in a neutral way (I am a fan of PG, who I assume makes very smart decisions) I think the country is completely toast. Worse off than SPAIN! I never had a high opinion of Spain but it looks more likely to outgrow its troubles than the UK.
Prince Andrew and Kate seem nice. The British countryside seems nice. But what else will these people ever be capable of again?
When I read or interact with Britains irl I lump them in one of the lowest buckets for intellectual conversation. Does anyone have any hope for Britain to share or at least data to tell me I’m wrong about the UK?
Honestly it is crazy that this country still exists as a monarchy in the 21st century.
That being said, I don't think the sun can ever set on the British Empire, because the empire shifted to a financial once as opposed to one based on the idea of controlling physical land. You'd have to take out its entire financial/banking network spread out across the world for the sun to "set" on it.