"We're a failed state now."

[shrike3]

So said a very charming Brit we met at the airport. He was cheerful in that way that people get when they've seen it all. "PM lasted 44 days. How is that not a failed state?"

He was joking, of course. He knows they're not Somalia. OTOH, the night before, during dinner at a pub, Hubs and I watched the TV as the talking heads breathlessly discussed Truss' resignation. The looks on the faces of the locals around us. Disgust. Frustration. Hubs and I could at least feel some solidarity, given the situation in our country.

[SoCalDavidS]

1. I Thought This Thread Would Be About America nt

[Boomerproud]

2. The similarities are striking. If Election Day doesn't go the way we hope.

That's it.

[EX500rider]

3. What does that make Italy?

Since the end of World War II in 1945, Italy has had 69 governments, at an average of one every 1.11 years.

[CrispyQ]

4. I did not know that!

Holy shit!

[Wounded Bear]

5. It's kind of a feature of parliamentary style governments, not a bug...

In parliamentary governments, it is far easier to topple the prime minister than it is for us to remove a president. Governments get dissolved and re-constituted, often with the same ministers doing a round of musical chairs. Sometimes I wish we could do it that fast, particularly during the trump years, but we're severly limited in that score.

Great Britain has been arguably more stable than, say, Italy and France. France has improved in the modern age. Between the wars in the 1920s and 30s the French government was very unstable, going through dozens of goverments.