Rolling our eyes is a very British reaction to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s latest comments about Britain’s taxes and decline. A billionaire tax exile in Monaco telling Britain that it has lost its way inevitably invites scepticism from people like Labour bigwigs Bridget Phillipson and Torsten Bell. Nobody likes being lectured by someone who appears to have stepped away from some of the responsibilities he is urging others to embrace.

But once the irritation subsides, there is an uncomfortable message worth hearing – despite what our feelings might be about the messenger. Britain does have a problem that runs deeper than the economy: it’s a loss of confidence. Where has our belief gone that we can build and create things, or make things happen? Increasingly, we seem trapped between nostalgia for a lost past and a fear of changing the present, distracted by trivial........

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