I still believe, as I put it in chapter two, that «software», not «hardware» — the long, slow waves of cultural change, not the more obvious technological and economic changes that figure so prominently in public debate and academic
social science — hold the key to the British predicament; that our ills
form an interdependent system or, in medical language, a «syndrome»; and that they reflect the bewilderment and disorientation of a people who have
forgotten the history that shaped them, and who therefore no longer know who they are.
And every year, at or near the top of the «oops» list is
forgetting to enter their
Social Security number at the top of the tax
form or making a mistake when entering those nine digits.