Why do rich countries continue to fail in delivering infrastructure and services for their citizens?
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The Pat Kenny Show. With Timber Living Log Cabins. Saturday and Sunday from 10am. On Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
Now, for years and years on my various programmes, I've been an advocate for not reinventing the wheel when it comes to getting things done. If we're building a metro, look to other similar-sized economies and see who did it well and on or near budget and learn from that country. Ditto with a children's hospital. The same with a fair and efficient immigration regime. The same for pre-schooling. The same for a health service. The same for e-scooter regulation, for example. And yet... we still persist on doing it for ourselves and, of course, doing it badly. I've been reading a new book by author and broadcaster John Kampfner. It's called Braver New World, subtitled The Country's Daring to Do Things Others Won't.
John Kampfner, good morning and welcome. Good morning, Pat. Now, you say in your book, Braver New World, that if you want to know how not to do things, the place to go is the United States of America.
Yes, indeed. I mean, there is competition. This book is... directed at readers pretty much in all Western liberal democratic countries. That's Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, you name it. But I think most of all to America, which is pretty much a how-to example in how not to run a cohesive society. Of course, there are still good things in America, the universities, the research, the science, That side of things is pretty much second to none. But in terms of the way politics is imploding, and to me, the example when I look at the America of Trump's second term, I just can't resist thinking of Germany in the late 1920s.
Does that mean that America, as we know it, is doomed and that it's coming to the end, if you like, of its cycle of dominance and it will implode in some way, whether by civil war or by revolution or simple decay?
My book is actually an optimistic book. It is, and I always say to live audiences and radio shows and anybody I talk to, I want you to emerge from what I'm saying feeling better. about the world rather than pessimistic. I mean, I've always been a professional pessimist. I predicted both Trumps. I predicted Brexit. And I thought, well, that's all fine and dandy. But actually, how about looking for the good in the world? That's why I went on my journey looking for 10 examples. But the foundation stone, this isn't a Pollyanna-ish, oh, everybody, it's not so bad, cheer up. No, the foundation stone for my research is the acknowledgement that the world and the global architecture and the economic and most importantly, the societal architecture of all our societies are in great, great peril.
And The, sadly, the country that is in greatest peril is the one that we all used to look up to, the land of the free, as we used to call it. And yes, I mean, anything can happen. I mean, anything can happen in any of our societies. Reform could take over in the UK and then all bets could be off. We're looking at the French elections next April with so much executive power vested in the president. All bets are off there. Germany, where I live, the AFD is increasingly strong. But in America, they're living through the nightmare more quickly than anybody else. Who knows what will happen with the midterms? Trump is already trying to gerrymander that vote in November. How would he respond if the Democrats do particularly well?
Will there be a sort of Putin-esque debate? type attempt at constitutional change ahead of the presidentials in two years' time, the more things go wrong for Trump as they are, not least on Iran and everybody finally
How does John Kampfner critique the United States' approach to governance?
sort of smoking him out, the more extreme the potential response and the graver the danger that will pose to American democracy.
But in so many ways, your book is a how-to manual for people, countries that are a bit bewildered by the extent of their problems. Now, there's one thing that I was greatly encouraged by, and that is Morocco. You look at Morocco, which will become energy-independent because of its use of solar power.
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