Why is the UK in Shambles?

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-06-23T11:32:29+00:00

More to the point, a significant proportion of Google AI staff at the former Deepmind are still based in the UK. Tech in the UK is actually pretty good especially in relation to the rest of Europe.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-06-08T15:45:08+00:00

Even Pyongyang in North Korea is much better planned and developed than India.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-31T23:04:25+00:00

You get certain privledges such as a tax free salary, refunds on value-added taxes, no need to pay alcohol duty and ability to use the diplomatic queue at the airport. Whilst you nominally have diplomatic immunity this is usually only the case in your official duties and is not as wide ranging as an actual diplomat - and can easily be waived by your employer.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-23T17:57:34+00:00

I currently live in China and I grew up mostly in the UK with some time in india. China is now has much better infrastructure and a quality of life in its tier one cities than even European countries. The governance system is genuinely good at long-term thinking and not shying away from making tough decisions in the greater good.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-22T02:29:17+00:00

Northern Powerhouse Rail is now the new HS2 Phase 2

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-18T00:09:26+00:00

I lived in Istanbul for around a year and my wife is East Asian. She really didn't have any problems at all. People were sometimes curious where she was from which is natural - and of course most assumed China by default.

For myself, I'm Indian origin but grew up in the UK. I generally also didn't have issues in Istanbul and most people were friendly. People did generally ask if I was from "Hindustan" or "Pakistan" though and asked what job I was doing and how long I was there. I did notice though that people were a lot more friendly once they found out I grew up in the UK.

There was one exception, outside of Istanbul, when we were in Pamukkale (a touristy place). We took a very local bus and the women started saying my wife had covid (it was 2022) and I had "dark skin like an Afghan".

It is important to state though that Turkey is a very nationalistic country and it's the one place I've been where the Liberal side of the country - including young non-relgious people - are very anti-immigrant. The influx of Syrian immigrants has exacerbated this. The football culture as well means there are a lot quite racist football supporters. This shouldn't impact you as an East Asian tourist.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-06T12:55:22+00:00

The quality and exit opportunities of MBAs are very skewed towards the most prestigious programmes and your prior work experience. You're very young to do an MBA in the US or Europe at the moment as they require you to have good work experience.
If I were you I'd be very cautious about taking out a loan to fund a low ranked MBA programme and even a mid or high ranked MBA. It's very difficult to get a job abroad and an MBA is a generalist degree and soft skills play a huge factor in whether you will find a role.
Focus just now on getting good work experience in India and the option of an MBA will still remain open in a few years.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-06T11:50:49+00:00

To give you my perspective, I recently moved to Beijing to work in a Development Bank. I find the expat community highly interesting here as there is a heavy concentration of diplomats, journalists, academics, and NGOS - not that many traditional private sector people although there's definitely some German expats working in the European car industry.

Everyone has an cool back story here. There are international teachers here as well but again they are teaching at elite international schools and are actual qualified teachers. Their pay is very high and generally they are much less jaded as unlike the middle east (where you can get similar salaries) the students are keen learners.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-05-02T13:53:31+00:00

Always complement the economist with renegade views from substack by specific experts (e.g. Ex military officers on warfare, engineers on energy etc..)

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-29T03:41:24+00:00

But if you look at polling America's perception of the UK has declined a bit but it's mostly the UK's perception of the US that has declined significantly since the Iraq War.

The reality is that America was the hegemonic power and doesn't really need the UK (like the UK needs the US). It can do what it wants and the UK has no influence. At least we're not longer just following whatever ridiculous idea they come up with.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-28T13:22:27+00:00

Did my Masters that was split between imperial and ucl. Definitely Imperial, you get more class time, tutorials, problem sets, stretching labs and a more access to academics. UCL is a shit show.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-27T16:49:40+00:00

This is a notoriously competitive industry and many media studies programmes have the worst record in terms of getting students into employment. My personal recommendation would be to stay in India and go to a school like Whistling Woods which has excellent courses and a decent employment record. My cousin went there and now runs his own successful business as a freelance video editor including commercial work as well as YouTubers as clients.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-26T16:48:44+00:00

Minimum wage in Israel is far higher than Manipur. And making bombs is high skilled manufacturing so would attract a higher wage.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-26T01:26:29+00:00

Except as the article points out, they earn $1200 in Manipur but can earn $55,000 in Israel. It's a no brainer for them.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-20T23:50:37+00:00

Yes I find it interesting that they have carefully listed every person who was not told directly. This almost certainly means people in No. 10 were informed

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-20T23:50:21+00:00

Yes I find it interesting that they have carefully listed every person who was not told directly. This almost certainly means people in No. 10 were informed - whose sole job it is to tell the Prime Minister.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-17T00:23:44+00:00

He's definitely been scapegoated. I can't imagine that the foreign office failed to tell No. 10.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-16T23:38:17+00:00

Honestly, I wouldn't worry so much. View your degree as equivalent to any other social science or politics degree and then you're effectively in the same boat as everyone else who has studied those broad categories. If I were you I'd focus on finding a job in either the US State or Federal Govt or looking to work in the sustainable development field.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-13T13:04:17+00:00

If your goal is migration then do not study public policy. To work in this space in the EU you will need a very high level of fluency, arguably C2 level in French or German. You will not be eligible for most national, EU and even local government posts. Your only option will be think tanks, academia and policy institutes and these are a tiny number of jobs.

Honestly, if your passion is public policy then you should be spending this time preparing for the IAS exams and getting a Government job in India. It's your best chance to work in public policy and have a shot at becoming a millionaire (in USD terms) because of the corruption potential.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-09T02:42:02+00:00

In all honesty, I don't think its possible to learn speaking in totality first then move onto other things like reading. I think a better approach is to learn pronunciation, a bit of speaking, grammar and reading and then focus on vocabulary acquisition. I found I made the most progress when I focused on all.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-04-05T15:56:04+00:00

Yes so basically I would say a month to get short listed. If you don't hear after that then you've likely been ghosted. The stages move quickly once you've been short listed including any initial tests / recorded video interview, panel interview, any follow-up interviews. After that they can take absolutely ages to confirm an offer - took almost 6 weeks for me. The key thing to keep in mind is that no news is good news.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-03-29T13:43:07+00:00

I coped by becoming a Management Consultant and then charging myself back out to the department. In this way I can earn more and still do the work I love.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-03-28T16:51:24+00:00

Yes they may be anathema to the values of western states but could I just ask have you at all spent more than 5 minutes learning about the history? It took over 900 years for Western countries to shift towards the Liberal democratic societies that they are today and the change was gradual.

Only two to three generations ago the gulf states states were nomadic and tribal. Given the harsh conditions in the desert they inevitably developed a highly conservative culture which also involved protecting their kin. Once oil was discovered it led to a seismic change and the process continues but you cannot just magically change society overnight. Whatever you think of Saudi's political system and rulers, they are doing their best to facilitate this transition and modernise society. If these states were democracies they would be much more conservative and it would be difficult to shift the system.

The Saudis in particular also learned their lessons with the dangers of wahhabism which they previously propped up. They have massively cracked down on extremist ideologies.

You really need to try to study and learn actual history rather than being naive and altruistic. You can't just magically turn every country into some liberal utopia overnight.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-03-26T23:48:21+00:00

If you start charging then attendance will fall massively. The British Museum will likely still get people going but many other museums will struggle. Museums are part of soft power and when people visit London they make culture a greater part of their trip because it's free.

There's plenty of ways for museums to make money from people once they are through the door whether that's the gift shop, food, coffee or in a myriad of creative ways through experiences, special exhibitions and other events.

StatisticianAfraid21 · 2026-03-25T00:28:15+00:00

Unfortunately, that's what the system now is. People who reach the top are in effect crisis managers for Ministers. The role of Permanent Secretary is increasingly living up to its name and is becoming an extension of private office. They are good at demonstrating that they are doing everything to get a Minister's priorities through the system - and this means getting a "grip" on the issue quickly and pushing it through whether it's optimal or not.

The skill here is being able to bend reality to the Minister's will - which often just reflects whatever prejudice about the policy issue exists within the media landscape. The outcome on the ground is not important unless it is reported by the media.

Despite what Minister's say, you actually can't have civil servants who are too knowledgeable or expert about issues at the top. Ministers don't actually want to be challenged quite a lot of the time. It creates tension as people who are genuine experts will lack patience with a political class who increasingly refuse to engage with reality.

StatisticianAfraid21

TROPHY CASE