What has happened to towns who did nothing to deserve it, like little Piddington village, will happen to all of Britain, unless there is fundamental political change.
It’s not right. Not right at all.
Asimov’s Foundation series was a major influence on me.
That and the fall of Rome, from which Foundation takes inspiration, is what convinced me that we need to extend consciousness beyond Earth to avoid a potentially infinite dark age.
A low birth rate due to extended periods of prosperity and low perceived external danger is the primary reason that Rome and most other powerful civilizations collapsed.
Rome had a very high birth rate when under extreme pressure from Carthage and a low birth rate a few generations after Carthage, their last serious threat, was finally destroyed.