LONDON — The flags from Elizabeth II’s Jubilee hang limp and dusty along Whitehall, and office workers sprawl in their underwear in the yellowed grass of St. James’s Park. The traffic is stalled, and drivers of London’s iconic black taxis bawl insults and make iconic gestures at the Uber drivers blocking their path. A heat wave has hit a city without air conditioning. The air is hot and dirty, and the mood is poisonous. The temperature is in the 90s, but Britain seems to be heading back to the ’70s.

Inflation is at 9%, the highest rate in 40 years, and still rising. Wages, which fell 3.4% in April, are falling faster than at any point in the past two decades. The economy, having recovered much of the ground lost to COVID-19, did not grow at all in February, then shrank by 0.1% in March and by a further 0.4% in April. The consumer price index is at 9%, the highest in its history, and consumer confidence is at its lowest since polling began in the 1970s. On its current pace, Britain will be in a recession with double-digit inflation by the end of the year.