ringo wrote:Britain doesn't have any natural resources to speak of. All that wealth amassed over hundreds of years came from somebody else's country.
Yeah, all that iron ore, coal and limestone that was used to start and then drive the industrial revolution was imported. Er, except it wasn't - it was dug from ground here in Blighty. That allowed us to develop or buy the best armaments which we then used to take what we wanted. We did well back then because we were the first to use the resources we had to hand. Once we'd used them up, we went looking elsewhere and no one, at the time, could easily prevent it. Not that it is necessarily a nice thing to do, however.
Historically, the Romans had done the same thing - develop a decent army and take what they wanted. Spain did it too with their powerful navy a few hundred years ago. Now, does that ring any bells in current times? Who has the biggest guns these days and takes what they want...?
History is a real bugger - it has a habit of repeating itself!
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.