The Geeks Inherit the Earth

I suspect, my dear readers, that the Day is coming.

Once upon a time, you could only rule a country if you were a charismatic, and preferably murderous, dictator - rising to the top on a pyramid of the bodies of your friends. Or else a charismatic, and probably slightly shady, democratically-elected leader such as Tony Blair.

Well, those days are drawing to an end. In Egypt and Libya the oppressors have been removed. In Italy the snake-oil salesman can see the end of the road. The foolish democratic experiment has been revealed for what it is - and through a banking failure, the countries of Europe are being taken over by bankers. The irony may not be lost, but no-one will be smiling as the time of bread and circuses is replaced by the time of shortages and cuts. Given the grief to come in Italy and Greece, for sure, how could the Prime Ministers be men or women who might have to face a popular vote? Enough that they can face riots with steely resolve and a spreadsheet.

I look at Britain and I consider. The cuts may have happened in time - the bond yields may stay down. But with our massive banking and share-trading sector, the engine of the economy is increasingly at the mercy of the computers that drive the trades. The crisis will come, as the bankers take the reins across the western world, when the health or otherwise of the economy drifts - or is wrested - from the democratically-elected politicians to the armies of silicon that control all our livelihoods and destinies.

It is clear where this is all going. Eventually, in the United Kingdom and possibly other countries outside the Euro, the only ones able to run the economy will be those that understand the financial and information technology sectors. Where to date in the West a politician would typically be a Politics or Law graduate - emotional, needy creatures as such tend to be, playing to the crowd - the rules have changed. We need cool-headed, precision-loving, logical men and women. People who care about money and not people. Rulers who need brook no popularity because they serve only the Machine.

I stand waiting for the call.