Apathy has a way with the modern world; we adjust. From raising the ‘end is nigh’ sign, our arms become tired. We don’t really believe in the sentiment, nor are convinced of our ability to speak out against a movement that we cannot feign to understand. For many, those that voted for Brexit – and similarly for Trump in the US – are the elusive unspoken, quietly living amongst us, but beneath the platform of social media. Until the unveiling of their collective power, their existence was pushed aside...
Read MoreIn a world of political disassociation, in which the elite and non-elite are suspended in two entirely different realities, social media has become a device for humanising political figures and creating relatability. Our politicians share the same social space as our friends, our families and our favourite products...
Read MoreIn our turbulent, unstable, querulously rebellious society, it’s no longer cool to be seen shaking hands with big business. By channelling the voice of business interests, Cameron did himself few favours – even if his words and warnings were on the mark. The irony that eludes many spectators is within what Trump currently represents versus his personal history. Whilst being an infamous businessman himself, the blusterous equivalent of our Alan Sugar, his movement symbolises a distinct detachment from a world controlled by the business elite...
Read MoreTrump's visceral, pithy speeches, wordplay, catchphrases and general lexicon are engineered not to manoeuvre himself around a political contest, but to pitch his own brand of politics. Anybody watching his first presidential debate will have seen two contenders each playing their own game; the two halves of the stage are divided by more than political party allegiances. It is the division between new and old politics. We’ve seen something similar in Britain...
Read MoreFor many, Brexit was such an exception. Ignoring, for a moment, the argument that many voters dismissed economic warnings as political blathering, Britain’s choice to leave the EU (or vote to do so) represented a rare moment in which visions of the future were filled with something more than dollar signs. The result shocked not only the nation, but the world – it was a rare moment of defiance, and a break in the order of things...
Read MoreYes, there is something so familiar about our two nations that the Britain has often been unfairly designated as the 51st state. And yet, like the modern dysfunctional family, it’s hard to admit that we have anything more than blood in common. At least as far as Britain goes, we’re unnerved by the likeness, even a tad ashamed and embarrassed that our younger sibling has gone off to become more successful, and only comes home to gleefully ram our faces into it...
Like the legendary Batman Villain Two-Face, there are two halves to Britain’s new identity that are at desperate odds with each other. Younger generations grew up listening to the rhetoric describing Britain as a great, multi-cultural society. After the fall of communism in 1989, the 1990s saw an influx of Polish immigrants, in no small part owing to our need to rectify a labour shortage. Regardless of the motives, there was a light to this openness, styled as an international beauty with the world viewing Britain as a progressive and tolerant society...
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We set out knowing who we were. Bobbing along calm currents, the horizon held promise: known seas, established trade routes brimming with pioneering vessels and a world of foreign and exotic destinations at our finger tips. Our friends even told us who we were; we were Britain, and we mattered. Now lost in this darkness, only the beating tide keeps our company, and brother turns on brother in matters of blame...
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In the throngs of globalisation, the British mentality is suspended in a continuous tug of war. At some point, we were meant to become more than just British, but we missed the cue. We have a self-affirming history of greatness and strength, and the words of Shakespeare and Churchill ring in our ears to remind us of our unique circumstance and character, an egotism that was, perhaps, never truly justified to begin with...
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