Britain has reversed its decline before, but things may get worse before they get better

‘If you’ve paid off your mortgage and live in a prosperous part of London then Britain’s decline may seem little more than a melodramatic story.’ A London landscape. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Decline is a spectre that has haunted this country for at least a hundred years. Through the retreat from empire, postwar recessions and growth panics, and our inward turn since Brexit, the worry that Britain is falling behind other countries – or deteriorating in absolute terms – has repeatedly gripped journalists, politicians and the public.

We are in one of those periods now. Seven out of 10 people in a recent Ipsos Mori poll agreed that the country was in decline. Commentators in other countries look on with a mixture of pity and schadenfreude.