My wife is a regular supporter of a local community theatre, and last night she went to see their latest show. It was the rather old ghost story by R.C. Sheriff, entitled The White Carnation. I gather that the play itself was not outstanding, but there was one incident in it that she reckons will stick in her memory. At one point the ghost, threatening to haunt other characters, says: “I’m going to turn the machinery of government into a farce!” I gather that the audience was reduced to a combination of cheers and helpless laughter by this line.
I’m afraid that this is so close to the truth. Our government is in a total mess, and I only really began to appreciate the depth of this when a well-known radio journalist commented on the BBC’s Today programme this morning that we find ourselves in a government crisis as deep as any since the campaign to repeal the infamous Corn Laws in the 1820s. Profound constitutional issues have been raised by the wretchedly misguided referendum on our membership of the European Union, and none of the political parties are sufficiently clear-sighted or unified even to address them properly let alone resolve them.
Britain has been in a state of increasing political chaos for the past two years, while a huge range of social and economic issues remain unaddressed. Nobody in Parliament is confronting these because all they can wrangle over is the European issue, often as deeply antagonistic to members of their own party as to others. Few seem to have either clear sight or honesty. The threat by R.C. Sheriff’s ghost was amusing: the current state of Britain is not.
I’m currently preparing a talk on the experience of the arts in Italy under fascism. It is a genuinely interesting historical issue, but I do ask myself sometimes whether my thoughts would be better directed elsewhere. On the one hand I wonder whether my energies might be better spent coming to grips with contemporary British politics. On the other, I do wonder if I might be preparing myself intellectually for the not-too-distant future.