Letter: Britain Has Long Been an Elective Dictatorship

Published on: 8 Mar, 2026
Updated on: 8 Mar, 2026

From David Roberts

I’m not clear what Mr Mallard is trying to say in his letter So Much of What We Held To Be Democratic Has Gone. Britain has long been an elective dictatorship and popular alienation from our governing elite is centuries-old. What seems more recent is a decline in political civility and rise in public cynicism.

This surely stems from a perception that our top institutions and neo-liberal economics are no longer delivering the optimistic feeling of year-on-year progress – including rising living standards – that we enjoyed in the immediate post-war decades.

I don’t think this is caused by a sudden moral failing by politicians. Rather, they are blocked at every turn by global systems that say “No” – especially mega-corporations that now rule the world through the markets and social media. To change these will require ideological vision and ruthlessness on an epic scale.

No wonder that politicians of all stripes find it easier to confine themselves (like glorified social workers) to “trying to deliver the things that ordinary working people care about”: a tweak to the NHS here, a penny off the cost of living there.

Pragmatic managerialism has its uses, but it’s not leadership.

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