Britain has become a better country in which to live on almost every measure in the 70 years since the Queen succeeded to the throne. We are a wealthier nation, with lower levels of absolute poverty and higher life expectancies. Many more can afford to enrich their lives with international travel. In the 1950s, few people owned televisions or fridges; today, technology of which they could only have dreamed has become a permanent feature for the vast majority. Women’s participation in the workforce has more than doubled and Britain is today a far less racist country than it was then.
But the national mood is different from 20 years ago at the golden jubilee, or even the diamond jubilee in 2012. In the early 2000s, Britain appeared at last to be on an upwards trajectory after the recession of the 1990s. There was an air of confident optimism, fuelled by buoyant growth accompanied by much-needed reinvestment in public services, a blooming creative industry that exported British culture around the world and the establishment of the minimum wage and a more generous welfare settlement, especially for pensioners and for families with children. Peace was achieved in Northern Ireland and power devolved to Scotland and Wales. The chancellor, Gordon Brown, even declared the end of “boom and bust”.
