To live in the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s was to be pitied, particularly by Brits who had fled abroad. There were still attractions. The theatres were vibrant, the BBC produced outstanding programmes and the newspapers provided a world view you did not find in many other countries.
But there was a prevailing shabbiness. Public infrastructure was rickety and decayed. Industrial relations were poisonous. There were strikes everywhere: on the railways, in the hospitals, in the car factories, which produced vehicles notorious for their unreliability.
Shortly after I joined the Financial Times as a management writer 30 years ago, the late Peter Martin, one of the FT’s greatest journalists, told me there was no culture of British management that anyone else recognised or respected.