British preeminence in the world took 227 years to erect, from defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 (with a bit of luck on our side) to deservedly defeating Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.
It took 200 years for us to start believing in ourselves and to grow into our potential.
This took unimaginable examples of courage and guts to pull off along the way, the zenith of it all being both Nelson and Collingwood sailing their own flagships at the head of their respective columns at the battle of Trafalgar. The Admiral and the Vice Admiral both putting themselves as the first into the line of enemy fire at point blank.
Kids today don’t know who Nelson is, and have never even heard of Collingwood!!! People are too guilt-shamed and feckless to even remember their own national heroes. They don’t know how hard it was to create Great Britain, or what price some people paid.
Britain enjoyed worldwide dominance for just 99 years, improving most of the world before blundering into WWI, a war between two alliances of which we were a member of neither. We blew it.
We struggling like hell with the loss of our best people in the immediate aftermath of the Great War and everything came crashing down 30 years later as we escaped WWII with our sovereignty intact by the absolute skin of our teeth to claim a pyrrhic victory and collapse into exhaustion.
Another 80 years have since passed, and we are back to being every bit as cowardly and as confused about it all as we have ever been.
We don’t teach our own kids a damn thing. We don’t even know what good looks like, let alone greatness.
Nobody even tells the stories.
A charismatic politician of any note whatsoever would have a field day with the treasurer trove of British history. Real epics that conquered the world, invented everything from the scientific method to banking to common law, all of it right there to be spun to grand effect.
Every major charismatic figure in world history claims the past and casts their people as coming on a journey to reclaim the things they deserve.
Putin is doing exactly that, Xi is doing exactly that, Trump is doing exactly that, Milei is doing exactly that.
What do we have?
Feckless middle manger types with all the charisma of a courtroom. Cracked and knackered institutions rammed with nepotism and foreign climbers. It is beyond amateurish, it’s just embarrassing.
The cupboard is empty, the shelves are bare, on the back of the door “greatness woz ere”.
People, ideas, machines… well all the people we need died in 1915-18 (20% of all the men in that generation died in the war) and we’re sat here with a bust flush ever since.
Now we don’t fight to expand we don’t even fight to defend and protect our own territory. We actually gift away territory and send money to appease the complainant.
I find the cowardliness, the supine capitulation of it all to be repellent.
I agree completely with this and would emphasise that a substantial number of the UK population growth since the second world war does not share or admire the achievements of the people who built this country . Unfortunately this also includes a large number of senior Civil Servants , the Judiciary and Labour , Tory and Lib Dem politicians and the BBC . I think a revolution to sweep away these people is inevitable , and I expect the educated younger people may just be the ones to start it . Look at the audience for DC's talk in Oxford .
Have you read N.A.M. Rodger’s three-volume naval history of Britain? A lot in there, especially volume 3 (“The Price of Victory”, covering 1815-c. 2005) seems highly complementary to a lot of what you’ve written about in this series. Recommended.
Fantastic post, grateful to be more informed on the CabOff's history.
You mentioned multiple times Nin Pandit's appointment was the one iota of hope you had for Starmer.[0, 1, 2] Now she's gone, any takes? Pushed out by Rayner? [3]
Is Regime Change the best and only avenue forward? I'm a bit worried Reform have already shown themselves to be clowns (see Jenkyns in Lincolnshire and the "Great/Grand Exhibition"; Campbell in Hull arguing over train tickets and office desks).
But it would be hard for any new party to overtake them? Are we already condemned to another clown show?
Good you're putting some more flesh on the mending our political system for the 21st century.
Your suggestion of a Start Up Party as a route to enabling a rebuild.. is sort of right:
Right in your portrayal of governing – an exceptional job to be carried out by exceptional people
Right that this is urgent – needs to be ready for the assumed next general election 29/30
Right in that a fundamental rebuild of central government and it supportive structures is required
Right to emphasise the importance of great leadership
Right in recognising that it’s the voters who are the catalyst to making this happen
Right in saying “…if you can focus on what the voters care about …you’ll go down in history”.
Wrong to be overly concerned by Insiders resistance to change
Wrong in not setting out how you intend to properly involve the people in your envisaged new mode of governing, for it is they who will provide the legitimate mandate for the changes - overwhelmingly I believe and over the heads of the Insiders,
Wrong to say it is yet another political party that is needed to make the difference.
What I think you are alluding to is a cultural shift in the way we exercise democratic politics – informed by the people - a “movement” is the better vehicle, complete with a standout manifesto and inspiring leadership.
I am sending today a slightly reworked draft of ”Demos21” to your email account (tracked) which I believe you will find relevant to your cause, under subject “PHYSICIST FROM BLOG”.
As you imply – only by MAKING HISTORY will any of this happen
Evan: 'Wrong in not setting out how you intend to properly involve the people in your envisaged new mode of governing, for it is they who will provide the legitimate mandate for the changes - overwhelmingly I believe and over the heads of the Insiders,'
I agree. My own way of having this happen is to institute Swiss Direct Democracy in the UK.
Dominic, I don’t know how interested you are in JFK, but I’ve been reading about his policy in Africa recently, particularly Nkrumah. I think JFK is much underrated as one of the great politicians. I say this because he was absolutely convinced about the benefits of the long-term considerations of policy. If we take the Volta-Dam, it was immensely unpopular, RFK opposed it, congress opposed it etc. Yet, he knew that its benefits would outlast and outweigh the vagaries of Nkrumah. If we consider the institutions against him-CIA, most of state dept— his ‘long-view’ of history which was embedded within (he was perhaps the historically literate president) him gave the conviction for audacious policy. This wasn’t limited to Nkrumah, he rebelled against conventions in Algeria, Egypt, and notably, Guinea, which had been thrown away by Ike. Two things stand out to me: 1. The necessary conviction of our politicians to prioritise presently inexpedient decisions to pursue longer-term benefits for national security (which as I have read in your blogs forms a large part of US and UK failure in last 50 years) 2. To consequently possess the courage to sacrifice personal ambition in pursuit of this. I am interested in your thoughts?
I’ve just finished the blog now. I’m particularly interested in the idea that whoever can solve the issues of control can become a great figure in our history; I agree. Yet, our society isn’t conditioned to produce these leaders at all. But why? Certainly, we have relied on war and crisis to produce them. On this I think two things: 1. Nepotism has been essential in producing remarkable talent—A good example: John Churchill—1st Duke of Marlborough. His sister had an affair with James, he gets promoted. His talent would have likely gone unnoticed unless he had this connection—link: He and his wife Sarah were mentors of Walpole, contributing to his rise in govt. Today—we allow no nepotism but even more corruption. As you note, we are worse off as a result. 2. But we don’t have an array pf figures with these capabilities today. The bureaucracies in place make the appearance of such a figure unlikely; party elites decide who will be PM; no energy, no real outsiders. Also, the spirit of this generation is weak, I don’t know if I can imagine a captivating leader of men; there will be one but they are harder to find; cause? Bad education systems, universities (I’m at one) that don’t teach you anything-I’ve learnt more independently reading, but also a general helplessness, lack of conviction, something intangible, i suppose. I know you have heard a lot of this before but it frustrates me.
Well, well, well, Unitree's GI humanoid robots being used in science laboratories, police departments and critical infrastructure in the USA are secretly and continually sending data to servers in China every five minutes, without users in the USA knowing about it, according to a study done by Alias Robotics and released yesterday by Cornell University:
DC:'Please post sources below for people and the AI(!) to study on how to do regime change after Starmer.'
Easy. Just do a referendum on Swiss Direct Democracy for the UK. We wouldn't even have to campaign to win it. The only poll ever done on it in the UK in September 2018 showed a majority already supporting it. Not merely 'regime change' but a democratic revolution that puts the people in power, not the politicians. As I say, easy.
What are we even trying to save here?
British preeminence in the world took 227 years to erect, from defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 (with a bit of luck on our side) to deservedly defeating Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.
It took 200 years for us to start believing in ourselves and to grow into our potential.
This took unimaginable examples of courage and guts to pull off along the way, the zenith of it all being both Nelson and Collingwood sailing their own flagships at the head of their respective columns at the battle of Trafalgar. The Admiral and the Vice Admiral both putting themselves as the first into the line of enemy fire at point blank.
Kids today don’t know who Nelson is, and have never even heard of Collingwood!!! People are too guilt-shamed and feckless to even remember their own national heroes. They don’t know how hard it was to create Great Britain, or what price some people paid.
Britain enjoyed worldwide dominance for just 99 years, improving most of the world before blundering into WWI, a war between two alliances of which we were a member of neither. We blew it.
We struggling like hell with the loss of our best people in the immediate aftermath of the Great War and everything came crashing down 30 years later as we escaped WWII with our sovereignty intact by the absolute skin of our teeth to claim a pyrrhic victory and collapse into exhaustion.
Another 80 years have since passed, and we are back to being every bit as cowardly and as confused about it all as we have ever been.
We don’t teach our own kids a damn thing. We don’t even know what good looks like, let alone greatness.
Nobody even tells the stories.
A charismatic politician of any note whatsoever would have a field day with the treasurer trove of British history. Real epics that conquered the world, invented everything from the scientific method to banking to common law, all of it right there to be spun to grand effect.
Every major charismatic figure in world history claims the past and casts their people as coming on a journey to reclaim the things they deserve.
Putin is doing exactly that, Xi is doing exactly that, Trump is doing exactly that, Milei is doing exactly that.
What do we have?
Feckless middle manger types with all the charisma of a courtroom. Cracked and knackered institutions rammed with nepotism and foreign climbers. It is beyond amateurish, it’s just embarrassing.
The cupboard is empty, the shelves are bare, on the back of the door “greatness woz ere”.
People, ideas, machines… well all the people we need died in 1915-18 (20% of all the men in that generation died in the war) and we’re sat here with a bust flush ever since.
Now we don’t fight to expand we don’t even fight to defend and protect our own territory. We actually gift away territory and send money to appease the complainant.
I find the cowardliness, the supine capitulation of it all to be repellent.
I agree completely with this and would emphasise that a substantial number of the UK population growth since the second world war does not share or admire the achievements of the people who built this country . Unfortunately this also includes a large number of senior Civil Servants , the Judiciary and Labour , Tory and Lib Dem politicians and the BBC . I think a revolution to sweep away these people is inevitable , and I expect the educated younger people may just be the ones to start it . Look at the audience for DC's talk in Oxford .
accurate
I'm bemused that the Cabinet Office can't tell you how many people work there. Isn't this just a matter of a simple query on the payroll system?
Have you read N.A.M. Rodger’s three-volume naval history of Britain? A lot in there, especially volume 3 (“The Price of Victory”, covering 1815-c. 2005) seems highly complementary to a lot of what you’ve written about in this series. Recommended.
Fantastic post, grateful to be more informed on the CabOff's history.
You mentioned multiple times Nin Pandit's appointment was the one iota of hope you had for Starmer.[0, 1, 2] Now she's gone, any takes? Pushed out by Rayner? [3]
Is Regime Change the best and only avenue forward? I'm a bit worried Reform have already shown themselves to be clowns (see Jenkyns in Lincolnshire and the "Great/Grand Exhibition"; Campbell in Hull arguing over train tickets and office desks).
But it would be hard for any new party to overtake them? Are we already condemned to another clown show?
---
0) https://dominiccummings.substack.com/p/the-uks-procurement-system-and-judicial?utm_source=publication-search#:~:text=ninjeri%20pandit%20(one%20of%20the%20many%20brilliant%20young%20women%20i%20saw%20around%20the%20table%20who%20would%20have%20been%20a%2010x%20better%20pm%20than%20the%20pm)
1) https://dominiccummings.substack.com/p/on-complexity-fog-and-moonlight-prediction?utm_source=publication-search#:~:text=work%20accelerated%20very%20rapidly%20march-april%20when%20a%20mix%20of%20officials%20(e.g%20nin%20pandjit%20at%20nhs)
2) https://dominiccummings.substack.com/p/snippets-14-us-polls-the-westminster?utm_source=publication-search#:~:text=there%20is%20one%20and%20only%20one%20optimistic%20signal.%20the%20new%20pps%20is%20nin%20pandjit.%20i%20worked%20with%20her%20on%20covid.%20she%20is%20a%20very%20able%20young%20women
3) https://order-order.com/2025/08/28/starmer-sacks-his-principal-private-secretary/#:~:text=the%20finger%20was%20also%20pointed%20at%20pandit%20for%20blocking%20the%20launch%20of%20rayner%E2%80%99s%20odpm
SS: 'But it would be hard for any new party to overtake them? Are we already condemned to another clown show?'
We are - unless DC and we launch TSP.
Question for DC: Will you respond if Danny Kruger reaches out to you to help him prepare Reform UK for government?
I'd prefer you to launch a new party in the UK, as originally envisaged by you and supported by those who subscribed to you.
“The Prince” rewritten. Excellent reading.
Hi Dominic,
Good you're putting some more flesh on the mending our political system for the 21st century.
Your suggestion of a Start Up Party as a route to enabling a rebuild.. is sort of right:
Right in your portrayal of governing – an exceptional job to be carried out by exceptional people
Right that this is urgent – needs to be ready for the assumed next general election 29/30
Right in that a fundamental rebuild of central government and it supportive structures is required
Right to emphasise the importance of great leadership
Right in recognising that it’s the voters who are the catalyst to making this happen
Right in saying “…if you can focus on what the voters care about …you’ll go down in history”.
Wrong to be overly concerned by Insiders resistance to change
Wrong in not setting out how you intend to properly involve the people in your envisaged new mode of governing, for it is they who will provide the legitimate mandate for the changes - overwhelmingly I believe and over the heads of the Insiders,
Wrong to say it is yet another political party that is needed to make the difference.
What I think you are alluding to is a cultural shift in the way we exercise democratic politics – informed by the people - a “movement” is the better vehicle, complete with a standout manifesto and inspiring leadership.
I am sending today a slightly reworked draft of ”Demos21” to your email account (tracked) which I believe you will find relevant to your cause, under subject “PHYSICIST FROM BLOG”.
As you imply – only by MAKING HISTORY will any of this happen
Evan: 'Wrong in not setting out how you intend to properly involve the people in your envisaged new mode of governing, for it is they who will provide the legitimate mandate for the changes - overwhelmingly I believe and over the heads of the Insiders,'
I agree. My own way of having this happen is to institute Swiss Direct Democracy in the UK.
Great stuff Dom, very valuable.
There is a typo “closed in June 2020” that should be 1920 - it’s correct the second time the phrase occurs but not the first time.
Dominic, I don’t know how interested you are in JFK, but I’ve been reading about his policy in Africa recently, particularly Nkrumah. I think JFK is much underrated as one of the great politicians. I say this because he was absolutely convinced about the benefits of the long-term considerations of policy. If we take the Volta-Dam, it was immensely unpopular, RFK opposed it, congress opposed it etc. Yet, he knew that its benefits would outlast and outweigh the vagaries of Nkrumah. If we consider the institutions against him-CIA, most of state dept— his ‘long-view’ of history which was embedded within (he was perhaps the historically literate president) him gave the conviction for audacious policy. This wasn’t limited to Nkrumah, he rebelled against conventions in Algeria, Egypt, and notably, Guinea, which had been thrown away by Ike. Two things stand out to me: 1. The necessary conviction of our politicians to prioritise presently inexpedient decisions to pursue longer-term benefits for national security (which as I have read in your blogs forms a large part of US and UK failure in last 50 years) 2. To consequently possess the courage to sacrifice personal ambition in pursuit of this. I am interested in your thoughts?
I’ve just finished the blog now. I’m particularly interested in the idea that whoever can solve the issues of control can become a great figure in our history; I agree. Yet, our society isn’t conditioned to produce these leaders at all. But why? Certainly, we have relied on war and crisis to produce them. On this I think two things: 1. Nepotism has been essential in producing remarkable talent—A good example: John Churchill—1st Duke of Marlborough. His sister had an affair with James, he gets promoted. His talent would have likely gone unnoticed unless he had this connection—link: He and his wife Sarah were mentors of Walpole, contributing to his rise in govt. Today—we allow no nepotism but even more corruption. As you note, we are worse off as a result. 2. But we don’t have an array pf figures with these capabilities today. The bureaucracies in place make the appearance of such a figure unlikely; party elites decide who will be PM; no energy, no real outsiders. Also, the spirit of this generation is weak, I don’t know if I can imagine a captivating leader of men; there will be one but they are harder to find; cause? Bad education systems, universities (I’m at one) that don’t teach you anything-I’ve learnt more independently reading, but also a general helplessness, lack of conviction, something intangible, i suppose. I know you have heard a lot of this before but it frustrates me.
Hello Dom
I DM'ed you about the Pitt biography.
Just to add a recommendation for fellow subscribers via the complex systems podcast: https://asteriskmag.com/
Well, well, well, Unitree's GI humanoid robots being used in science laboratories, police departments and critical infrastructure in the USA are secretly and continually sending data to servers in China every five minutes, without users in the USA knowing about it, according to a study done by Alias Robotics and released yesterday by Cornell University:
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-g1-humanoid-robots-secretly-china.html
Google's lawyer admits Google censorship during 2020 Presidential election:
https://foundationforfreedomonline.com/google-admits-federal-government-censorship-pressure/?swcfpc=1
DC:'Please post sources below for people and the AI(!) to study on how to do regime change after Starmer.'
Easy. Just do a referendum on Swiss Direct Democracy for the UK. We wouldn't even have to campaign to win it. The only poll ever done on it in the UK in September 2018 showed a majority already supporting it. Not merely 'regime change' but a democratic revolution that puts the people in power, not the politicians. As I say, easy.
Dom - more on officials saying the quiet part out loud, here is your former colleague Helen McNamara saying Cabinet is part theatre https://heywoodquarterly.com/in-conversation-with-helen-macnamara/
This Engineering History of the Manhattan Project will be of interest.
https://www.construction-physics.com/p/an-engineering-history-of-the-manhattan/comments?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=post_viewer