Those who grew up reading the old Greek myths will be familiar with Cassandra’s curse.

Cassandra was a Trojan princess, blessed by the Gods with the gift of true prophecy – she really could see the future. But she was also cursed never to be believed. So, when she warned her fellow Trojans about the giant wooden horse left outside the city’s walls, they ignored her. 

I think Britain is similarly cursed. We can call it Britannia’s Curse.  

It’s one thing to hear a true prophecy and dismiss it. There are plenty of false prophets out there. But it’s quite another thing when a whole country keeps being warned about the consequences of terrible policies but enacts them anyway. And it’s worse when, despite those policies playing out as predicted, other countries decide to adopt them too. 

It is like other ancient cities deciding to follow Troy’s example and accept giant wooden horses left as ‘gifts’ by Greek armies.  

Consider the evidence for Britannia’s curse.  

Economists warned about abandoning free trade agreements with one’s largest neighbour. Britain left the EU regardless. The withdrawal has been a mess. Other countries should have learned not to leave even passably reasonable free trade agreements. Instead, the United States followed Britain’s example by blowing up the North American free trade area. 

Britain was warned not to cut taxes while running a large deficit. Truss’s government did it anyway, and the bond market reacted, costing her her job. The lesson should have been obvious. But America and New Zealand both went ahead with tax cuts despite deficits.  

Most recently, the UK decided that youths should be shielded from harmful content on the internet. Experts warned that age restrictions would prove a disaster for adult internet users and create a privacy nightmare. So far, those experts have been proved right. Shortly after the law was enacted, Spotify, Reddit, Xbox, and social media sites all started demanding that adults hand over their ID.  

Rather than learning from Britain’s experience, New Zealand’s parliamentarians seem keen on replicating failure by setting social media age limits. 

Britain does the world a service by demonstrating the consequences of bad policies, so that others can be warned to steer clear. But instead of taking the warning, we all follow them into the mire.  

Britannia’s curse is far more infuriating than Cassandra’s.  

Beware of Brits bearing policies.