This chart is a warning: the UK has suffered a 16-year collapse in its ability to raise living standards. GDP per capita is still below 2019, tens of points behind where it should be. No major economy has fallen further behind its own trajectory. If we don’t fix this, we don’t just get poorer. We drift toward emerging-market living standards while Europe stagnates beside us. A stagnant Europe leaves the world bipolar: the US on one side, China/Russia/Iran on the other, a powerless continent in between. The US escaped its productivity slump by building global technology platforms. We didn’t. The bill is due. Either we build a system where generational companies can start, scale, and list here. Or we accept decline. There is no third option.