‘Are our leaders willing to face up to the decline of Western civilisation?’

Productivity growth has stalled. Debt has soared. Workforces are shrinking.

Meanwhile, in the east, China’s industrial output now exceeds the entire combined manufacturing capacity of Europe and North America.

But economics, of course, is half the story.

The deeper crisis is demographic and it’s cultural, as you well know.

European birthrates are now far below replacement level in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, native populations are ageing and shrinking.

The result is not a renewal of Europe. It’s a fragmentation in major Western European cities. Parallel societies have popped up everywhere.

Communities living under completely different social norms, different expectations of the law, and most importantly, different loyalties.

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Trust in institutions is also on a rapid decline, social cohesion is fragmenting and fracturing, and political stability has become very brittle, hasn’t it?

A civilisation that once exported its values to the world is now struggling to maintain them, even in their home countries.

It is not hyperbole to say this. We’ve seen riots in French suburbs, race riots in Britain, record crime in major European capitals and courts overwhelmed police are stretched thin.

Political parties rising on promises simply to restore order and borders – something that should be a given, by the way, is now a political battleground. Who would have thought it?

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And at the same time, global influence is shifting away from the West and, more importantly, shifting away from Europe.

Donald Trump has signalled a change to America’s slow international decline, embracing the Monroe Doctrine of interventionism. But European leaders are stuck, aren’t they?

Between backing our cousins in America and not upsetting a growing Chinese influence.

And, rather than decisive action, Western governments appear more focused on managing the decline and sitting on the fence, rather than tackling it and reversing it.

The West, all of us, our countries, became powerful through innovation. What have we done in Europe?

The plastic bottle with the cap stuck to it over the last 20 years. Come on.

We also grew powerful through shared identity, rule of law and social trust between each other.

It’s clear that this is no longer the case in most of Britain and across Europe.

The question is no longer whether decline is happening, but whether Western leaders are willing to confront the difficulties of it before the window to recovery closes completely?

Rome once fell, and it spiraled the continent into a dark age. Are we now on the precipice of another one?