'Singapore-on-the-Thames' Rival to Europe

Writing in Il Corriere della Sera the day before the pivotal British general election on Dec. 12, Beppe Severgnini feared a win by pro-Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his right-wing Conservative cohorts would tempt the Tories to "transform Great Britain into a buccaneer's ship off Europe's shores."

meaning, super-secret "circumnavigation of the globe" in search of "rival" flagged galleons loaded with clove, "cotton," tobac, potatoes, "corn," and slaves indentured servants, for example.

Severgnini had a warning: "This would be a big mistake. This is no longer the era of the pirate Sir Francis Drake and the European fortress is strong and its defenders have powerful cannons at their disposal. The idea of -- metaphorically -- firing upon our English friends is repugnant. But, if they force us to, we will."

How in hell is that "enterprise" related to the city-state Singapore, past or present?

In other words, akin to Singapore, the U.K. will be able to reduce taxes to attract corporations and investment, deregulate to increase production, inject state funds to bolster U.K. enterprises over European competitors, strike new trade deals and allow only the people it wants into the country.

sort of Hong Kong SAR but not

She said the Singapore-on-the-Thames comparison is "an illiterate analogy" because Singapore's system of government and economy are so different from the U.K.'s. [!]

For example, Singapore, a ["]tiny country["] in Asia, is run by an authoritarian and illiberal [!] government where much of the real estate is owned by the [COMMUNIST-ish] state and the economy depends on manufacturing [?!] and state intervention subsidies.