I definitely agree there were some individuals who made money from the imperial project, but it wasn't rational at the level of the British state/monarch.

> Like with every colonial power...

Some colonial powers may have genuinely increased the wealth of the imperial state. The Spanish and Mongol empires stand out in my mind here, although I don't have a precise source of accounting.

I don’t see how that refutes my claim?

Yes a bunch of individuals got rich, but my position is that their tax payments (and wider economic contributions) never justified the cost of maintaining the colonies.

It would have probably been better if the government just gave the upper class money directly, rather than indirectly by paying for navies to acquire land for them.

William Jardine getting half of China addicted to opium and starting a war out of the issue wasn't good for China or Britain.

That’s not what they are saying.

Ego, corruption, etc are explanatory. The statewide economics just never quite worked.

The number 1 (and super easy to debunk) BS narrative that the English (mainly) say on the topic of "we never stole from others" or "it was a trade-off for modernizing them", etc. is how about you give back _all_ the things you 'didn't steal'. All Gemstones from all crowns/staves/etc, everything in the "British" (cough-stolen-cough) Museum. And _then_ your argument will have half a leg to stand on.

So until you return what is stolen from every country around the planet, keep the BS to yourselves because it only angers the rest of us, you pathetic thieves. Totally deserving what is going on in the UK. And I fear it is too late to turn that ship around in the next couple of decades. Especially with the politicians that are running the show and the younger ones in the pipeline.

And it is a great pity because I have lived and worked in the UK and I loved the people and the place. But hold your tongues and stop biting your own tails (you snakes) and perhaps you will have a better life in 20-30 years. :)

It's frankly sickening that some people heap scorn upon the Britain of their ancestors, especially considering they're the only ones that actually you know, abolished slavery and had the seeds of thought in its WEIRD Protestantism that evolved into the strain of progressivism that you masochistic westerners hold dear.