Thanks for the synopsis. I will try to check it out. One of my best friends is a Brit. I'll ask him if he knows it.

IMO as someone who goes back and forth "across the pond" pretty regularly (although I live and work in Europe a long time now) the decline is all over the West. It started pretty clearly in the 80s with Reagan and has continued apace since then with every president. I think the basis is economic security.

Since the 80s the average American's wages have stagnated, while productivity and inflation have continued to rise. This is happening in the EU as well, but the much stronger social safety nets have slowed the decline here. We in the EU lag the US by about 20 years.

When people are nervous about how they will pay the bills, the tensions in society increase. People become more tribal and relations between groups gets worse. The rise of international media mega-corporations has made this worse - IMO on purpose.