Elon Musk launched Tesla’s flying car a few days ago. An electric roadster which, over short distances, can lift off the ground using four nozzles that function as cold gas thrusters (CGT). This technology is said to have originated in Musk’s other group of companies, SpaceX, which operates in the fields of rocket propulsion and space travel.
It didn’t take long before the comments sections were filled with self-pitying posts about how far behind we Europeans are. That we can only regulate and ban, but can no longer invent anything new. We’ve been hopelessly overtaken, and we’re led by incompetent politicians.
There is some truth in these whingeing comments, but I’m surprised that people haven’t realised this until now. After we’ve decommissioned our nuclear power stations, blown up our oil pipelines, over-regulated the business sector and over-taxed our citizens for many years. It’s been going on for a long time, but I suppose people often wake up too late, when the clock is approaching midnight.
The people of Europe have quietly accepted paying up to 40 per cent of their income in various taxes and charges to the state. We have silently accepted all manner of regulations and edicts from the authorities, bowed and scraped, and carried on with our daily lives. The unelected clique in Brussels has become the norm, and whilst they talk of democracy and freedom, they are abysmal representatives of their lofty ideology. And of late, it’s mostly been about sending money to Ukraine to support a conflict we neither understand nor have any part in.
The billions being poured into unprecedented projects will one day come under the scrutiny of future historians. Both the war in Ukraine and the senseless mass migration project, in which millions of people are supported by taxpayers’ money, and where cultural clashes and rising crime are swept under the carpet by the media and elected representatives. The phase-out of nuclear power and the push for secondary energy sources such as wind and solar, which will never stand a chance of matching nuclear power in terms of efficiency.
Elon Musk, who is himself an immigrant to the US, would never have been able to establish himself in Europe. Our convoluted regulations would never have allowed his ambitious plans, whilst the Governor of Florida, even during the presentation of the flying car, announced that he would ensure it was approved in Florida.
Well, even the US is somewhat behind the times; many bridges, roads, airports and city centres are in dire need of repairs and refurbishment. But they do have Musk and AI technology; they attract people working in cutting-edge technologies and industries of the future. Something that Europe’s politicians do not even consider. We are content to be an open-air museum for Asians and Americans, who come here to take a look at the old world.
Well, of course, we’re not quite out of the game yet. A couple of years ago, Italy rose to become the world’s fourth-largest exporting nation. The Netherlands continues to be a supplier of advanced technology, including for the manufacture of processors. Germany is hardly out of the running yet; its industries are still world-renowned and highly competent, and it does, after all, have a historical tendency to bounce back quickly. And there is a great deal happening in Russia at the moment; they are developing ingenious weapons, but also passenger aircraft, cars and other products, as they have been forced to do so by Western sanctions. And Russia is – whether we like it or not – part of Europe. And we will have to get on with them once the war is over.
All we need to do is get rid of the clowns in Brussels and everything will be fine – that’s what many people believe, and it’s certainly true. The EU has brought about a great many bad things and held the whole continent back. We’ve lost our self-confidence, and instead of innovating, we’re just patching things up with steel wire and tape. The problem is that we’re up against a whole army of clowns. There are so many people playing their part in Brussels’ burlesque theatre, and they think it’s the most natural thing in the world for the European Commission to be regulating plastic bottle caps. And soon they’ll be sending our young men and women to war against Russia, because Putin wants to take over the whole world.
From bottle caps to war, from censorship to fine-sounding talk of democracy. The EU is an empire with feet of clay, and will meet its end sooner or later. But Europe will remain, with all its diverse countries, cultures, temperaments and political orientations. It was our indomitability and unruliness that once made us strong, and hopefully we will be able to revive and develop that strength.
