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Queen Elizabeth II died ..no need for a link...the story is everywhere, as you would expect. One of the longest reigning monarchs ever ,beginning shortly after the Second World War, in 1952, during what was the pinnacle of the British Empire. In the 70 years that followed saw Britain go from being a superlative world superpower to losing most of its colonies, save for some tiny islands. [Although Britain lost India in 1947, so it was already well into decline.] Economically, after the war it was easily surpassed by the US , and even more ironically, by Germany and Japan. I think it shows the power of capitalism and innovation. Just having a lot of territory or having a big military is not enough if you lose the technological or capitalism arm's race. Britain is having so many problems now, such as inflation and gas shortages..it goes to show how bad things are elsewhere compared to here.
Absolutely, the British government made some terrible mistakes that permanently set the country backwards. They wrecked the Midlands with planning systems. Relying on foreign energy is always a risk - should have built more nuclear power plants as well.
https://unherd.com/2020/09/the-plot-against-mercia/
However, I'd argue that retaining a huge population and territory could have insulated them from almost any problem. Nobody in Russia needs to worry about fuel shortages or food shortages (provided their government isn't abysmally run) - they inherently have an advantage that food importing countries like Taiwan or Egypt lack. If you have a large population, your scientific and military efforts will naturally be enhanced. If you have a large territory compared to your population, you'll have more natural resources per person.
I moved from the Midlands in the UK, to the Rust Belt in the US (via London in the middle) and both ended up in the same way. I think capitalism and the cheap manufacturing from abroad is a much bigger factor in both than any government policies. Both industrial, steel and coal mining areas in very differently run countries when it came to regulations ended up becoming half-empty rotten shells of themselves. The common factor being the ability to get cheap coal and steel and manufactured goods for much cheaper global competitors.
Planning regulations might have been part of the mechanism, but they weren't the cause. Which doesn't mean that the regulations were not themselves an issue mind you.
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