Still working with the idea that Brexit could be the source material for future creativity had me digging through the Spectator online the other day and an article about the Creative and Artistic response to the vote as expressed at the Edinburgh Festival. Lloyd Evans penned "Luvvie anger over Brexit is palpable at Edinburgh - and its exposing their true colours.
Are we seeing a social shift where the creatives coalesce into a distinct strata in society deserving of special status? the constant search for funding, sponsorship etc. has always been part of the creative life, but the sense of a right, that as creatives they have a right to be funded has become more ope and the right to pass judgement, to decide who and what the other side are; basically wrong is more openly expressed.
Evans explains that the tantrum throwing mentality of the artistic Remainers is understandable; why? They believe the vote will deprive them of lots of cash. The humour was aimed at the Leave voters and inevitably called into question their intellectual capacity. In four days of comedy he encountered only one pro-Brexit joke from Geoff Norcott who was puzzled by the Remainers conviction the vote had been swung by 'thick' Leave voters. 'Thick?' He said. "The Remain campaign waited until after 23 June to stage their protest.'
Humour is powerful, but it's the sense of power exuded by the Remain camp, that the will of the people, the democratic vote can be overturned by whatever means possible. Evans takes his analysis further, citing the satirist Andy Saltzman asking who was to blame and received a list of the usual political suspects, Cameron, Johnson, Gove et al. received a name check, but the real culprit - if there is one - was never mentioned; Democracy.
Many writers, especially the thriller and spy genre wondered what would happen after the Berlin wall came down and Communism began to fragment in the early 1990s. None of us at the time could have predicted the events of the next twenty years, the conflicts, terror alerts and the current situation unfolding across Europe with the migration of thousands from the Middle East and Africa.
The material kept coming, more than enough for any writer to slake their thirst for inspiration. Is this the beginning of what we see unfolding within the United Kingdom, a wealth of intrigue and chicanery. Political manoeuvring and judicial interference. Mishcon de Reya, acting on behalf of clients, has challenged the Government procedure regarding article 50, citing that it should uphold the constitution and protect the sovereignty of Parliament. I thought that's what the whole bloody fuss was about in the first place! Parliament's sovereign ability to function without interference from outside.
Maybe, I'm just being a thick Leaver, but doesn't the vote come after the debate, and isn't that what the relentless bovine scatology hurtling from every direction was supposed to be? Debate first, vote after, then action derived from the result and to quote the legal challengers 'the decision to trigger Article 50... rests with the representatives of the people under the UK Constitution. That's Parliament, by the way.
Literature has worked the theme of the difference between the top and bottom of society for centuries, Dickens explored the class divisions in many of his novels, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and others, all unpacked the society in which he lived. Nearly a century later in the 1950s, British literature embraced social commentary, and the voices of John Osborne, Kingsley Amis and John Braine - among others - the Angry Young Men made themselves heard.
The referendum revealed a complex division among the voters and the over simplification of Leavers and Remainers does neither side any good. The perspective decides the point of view, who is wearing the black hat and who the white? The good guys and the bad?
The House of Commons, the lower chamber of the High Court of Parliament, has 650 members and they asked a direct question and got a straight answer, It's first past the post and the simple majority prevails; the majority vote was to leave. Black and White, not 650 shades of grey?
Barely two months since the vote was cast and the potential material is gathering already, who knows what the future will bring, thrillers edged with the internal tensions of former colleagues in Pan European co-operation working the national angle into a multi-national agency. The insider who now stands outside? All of it potential material. The rise of the Far Right, and the counter-balance of the resurgence of the Far Left. If you go far enough in either direction do you wind up in the same place - I just wondered?
Kick the imagination into gear and the list grows exponentially, material, material, material. Complex, convoluted, add words to the list. I could go on...
Not today,
One last thought. On the morning after the vote a BBC reporter asked Jean-Claude Juncker is the vote marked the 'beginning of the end of the European Union?' He gave a one word answer - no - and left the podium. What happens next? We are only just beginning to find out.
Are we seeing a social shift where the creatives coalesce into a distinct strata in society deserving of special status? the constant search for funding, sponsorship etc. has always been part of the creative life, but the sense of a right, that as creatives they have a right to be funded has become more ope and the right to pass judgement, to decide who and what the other side are; basically wrong is more openly expressed.
Evans explains that the tantrum throwing mentality of the artistic Remainers is understandable; why? They believe the vote will deprive them of lots of cash. The humour was aimed at the Leave voters and inevitably called into question their intellectual capacity. In four days of comedy he encountered only one pro-Brexit joke from Geoff Norcott who was puzzled by the Remainers conviction the vote had been swung by 'thick' Leave voters. 'Thick?' He said. "The Remain campaign waited until after 23 June to stage their protest.'
Humour is powerful, but it's the sense of power exuded by the Remain camp, that the will of the people, the democratic vote can be overturned by whatever means possible. Evans takes his analysis further, citing the satirist Andy Saltzman asking who was to blame and received a list of the usual political suspects, Cameron, Johnson, Gove et al. received a name check, but the real culprit - if there is one - was never mentioned; Democracy.
Many writers, especially the thriller and spy genre wondered what would happen after the Berlin wall came down and Communism began to fragment in the early 1990s. None of us at the time could have predicted the events of the next twenty years, the conflicts, terror alerts and the current situation unfolding across Europe with the migration of thousands from the Middle East and Africa.
The material kept coming, more than enough for any writer to slake their thirst for inspiration. Is this the beginning of what we see unfolding within the United Kingdom, a wealth of intrigue and chicanery. Political manoeuvring and judicial interference. Mishcon de Reya, acting on behalf of clients, has challenged the Government procedure regarding article 50, citing that it should uphold the constitution and protect the sovereignty of Parliament. I thought that's what the whole bloody fuss was about in the first place! Parliament's sovereign ability to function without interference from outside.
Maybe, I'm just being a thick Leaver, but doesn't the vote come after the debate, and isn't that what the relentless bovine scatology hurtling from every direction was supposed to be? Debate first, vote after, then action derived from the result and to quote the legal challengers 'the decision to trigger Article 50... rests with the representatives of the people under the UK Constitution. That's Parliament, by the way.
Literature has worked the theme of the difference between the top and bottom of society for centuries, Dickens explored the class divisions in many of his novels, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and others, all unpacked the society in which he lived. Nearly a century later in the 1950s, British literature embraced social commentary, and the voices of John Osborne, Kingsley Amis and John Braine - among others - the Angry Young Men made themselves heard.
The referendum revealed a complex division among the voters and the over simplification of Leavers and Remainers does neither side any good. The perspective decides the point of view, who is wearing the black hat and who the white? The good guys and the bad?
The House of Commons, the lower chamber of the High Court of Parliament, has 650 members and they asked a direct question and got a straight answer, It's first past the post and the simple majority prevails; the majority vote was to leave. Black and White, not 650 shades of grey?
Barely two months since the vote was cast and the potential material is gathering already, who knows what the future will bring, thrillers edged with the internal tensions of former colleagues in Pan European co-operation working the national angle into a multi-national agency. The insider who now stands outside? All of it potential material. The rise of the Far Right, and the counter-balance of the resurgence of the Far Left. If you go far enough in either direction do you wind up in the same place - I just wondered?
Kick the imagination into gear and the list grows exponentially, material, material, material. Complex, convoluted, add words to the list. I could go on...
Not today,
One last thought. On the morning after the vote a BBC reporter asked Jean-Claude Juncker is the vote marked the 'beginning of the end of the European Union?' He gave a one word answer - no - and left the podium. What happens next? We are only just beginning to find out.
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