The shift came at the end of 1973. The quarter-century before then, starting around 1948, saw the most remarkable period of economic growth in human history. In the Golden Age between the end of the Second World War and 1973, people in what was then known as the ‘industrialised world’ – Western Europe, North America, and Japan – saw their living standards improve year after year. They looked forward to even greater prosperity for their children. Culturally, the first half of the Golden Age was a time of conformity, dominated by hard work to recover from the disaster of the war. The second half of the age was culturally very different, marked by protest and artistic and political experimentation. Behind that fermentation lay the confidence of people raised in a white-hot economy: if their adventures turned out badly, they knew, they could still find a job.
THIS MORNING, THE UK WOKE UP in a very different country. Yesterday, June 23, the country voted to sever its 44-year membership in the European Union. The result, which came as a surprise and shock to many, revealed that nearly 51.9% of the electorate had voted for Leave against 48.1% for Remain, with a turnout of 72%, translating to 17.4 million people who voted to leave and 16.1 million who voted to stay.