As Europe’s economy slides down into bankruptcy the settlement ex-colonies of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada are like Singapore and Hong Kong comparatively healthy. The only other equally robust economy is Switzerland. The Australian section of the Spectator, a very level-headed weekly known for its wit, has just pointed this out. They are beginning to realise that even if the debt bubble doesn’t burst in the next few years there is something about the British form of government that is much more resilient than any other. Like the writer, who has been banging on about this for decades, they are even thinking about forming a replacement for the British Commonwealth with the possible inclusion of India but excluding totalitarian societies who have abandoned the rule of law. We really cannot trust the big powers of Europe, the USA or Russia. China with its less conversionist culture is not the greatest danger. The UK government deserves nothing but scorn for its foreign policy since 1945. Can they be extracted from Europe and brought to see where their duty and their cultural identity lies?

Such a new form of international government could be called “The United Dominions of Britain” and the main core would presumably be a Tory led union of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, possibly South Africa and most important of all, India! The British Isles with their popular religious monarchy could be a kind of spiritual centre like Rome, both East and West, in an earlier Christian empire. These nations have much in common as previous members of a unique and unusually tolerant Christian constitutional monarchy. The English language and literature have become pre-eminent in the world today and are spreading even more with the Internet.