{"id":20945,"date":"2025-11-23T12:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/23\/has-britain-become-an-economic-colony\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T12:37:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:37:17","slug":"has-britain-become-an-economic-colony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/23\/has-britain-become-an-economic-colony\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Britain become an economic colony?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK could\u2019ve been a true tech leader \u2013 but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dear<\/p>\n

Two and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament\u2019s imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the antics of a vainglorious king. Today, the tables have turned: it is Great Britain that finds itself at the mercy of major US tech firms \u2013 so huge and dominant that they constitute monopolies in their fields \u2013 as well as the whims of an erratic president. Yet, to the outside observer, Britain seems curiously at ease with this arrangement \u2013 at times even eager to subsidise its own economic dependence. Britain is hardly alone in\u00a0submitting to the power of American firms, but it offers\u00a0a clear case study in why nations need to develop\u00a0a\u00a0coordinated response to the rise of these hegemonic companies.<\/p>\n

The current age of American tech monopoly began in the 2000s, when the UK, like many other countries, became almost entirely dependent on a small number of US platforms \u2013 Google, Facebook, Amazon and a handful of others. It was a time of optimism about the internet as a democratising force, characterised by the belief that these platforms would make everyone rich. The dream of the 1990s \u2013 naive but appealing \u2013 was that anyone with a hobby or talent could go online and make a living from it.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nThe UK could\u2019ve been a true tech leader \u2013 but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dear
\nTwo and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament\u2019s imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the antics of a vainglorious king. Today, the tables have turned: it is Great Britain that finds itself at the mercy of major US tech firms \u2013 so huge and dominant that they constitute monopolies in their fields \u2013 as well as the whims of an erratic president. Yet, to the outside observer, Britain seems curiously at ease with this arrangement \u2013 at times even eager to subsidise its own economic dependence. Britain is hardly alone in\u00a0submitting to the power of American firms, but it offers\u00a0a clear case study in why nations need to develop\u00a0a\u00a0coordinated response to the rise of these hegemonic companies.
\nThe current age of American tech monopoly began in the 2000s, when the UK, like many other countries, became almost entirely dependent on a small number of US platforms \u2013 Google, Facebook, Amazon and a handful of others. It was a time of optimism about the internet as a democratising force, characterised by the belief that these platforms would make everyone rich. The dream of the 1990s \u2013 naive but appealing \u2013 was that anyone with a hobby or talent could go online and make a living from it. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK could\u2019ve been a true tech leader \u2013 but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dear Two and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament\u2019s imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the …<\/p>\n

Has Britain become an economic colony?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":20946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20945"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}