As the UK continues to try & find a place outside the EU, and fails to understand how it (we) have corrupted & downgraded our 'soft power', another clue to how other nations see us is the failure to recover a better ranking in international perceptions of state corruption.

The UK used to rank firmly in the top 10 & now languishes down at 20th place, perceptions that seemly still stem from the corruption of the Tories (and not just under Johnson).

#corruption #SoftPower
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/11/uk-fails-to-improve-on-record-low-ranking-in-global-table-of-corruption

However the dismemberment of USAID plays out (maybe some aspect will be absorbed into the State Dept?) & whatever one thinks of the conduct of the agency, the withdrawal from its activities will likely leave a vacuum that China will see to fill with its own development agency (colloquially ChinaAID).

He may not care, but if you wanted an example of how to dissipate 'soft power' quickly, this looks like a textbook case.

#USAID #InternationalRelations #SoftPower

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/07/donald-trump-usaid-shutdown-impact-china-relationship-funding

The idea that a group of the 'great & good' can help the UK engineer an improvement in its 'soft power' seems to me to misunderstand how soft power works.... you don't wield soft power, rather you (global) actions result in soft power when others regard your actions as influential or requiring their adjustment.... so the biggest damage done to the UK's soft power was likely Brexit & no amount of chatting & strategising is going to do much to reverse that!

#SoftPower

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/17/cultural-figures-and-royals-to-boost-uk-global-influence-in-soft-power-council