Monday, May 21st, 2012
The Wowster describes the great event as a non event for most. It only threw up the great divide that blights a country that’s fast becoming the new Ruritania
If you believe the press and television, and not from the wrong end of the great divide, you could be forgiven for thinking that the whole of Britain was suitably mesmerised by the Royal fascinator that briefly moved across its field of vision.
However most of us don’t live in some Ruritanian fancy dress party – we live in Britain – a dowdy, increasingly down-at-heel country which is markedly at variance with the one on display.
A street party named illusion
The BBC and ITV reportage of the festivities struggled to find much imagery outside of the South to support their contention that celebrations were going on “up and down the country”.
Channel 4 had a more accurate stab at the true state of affairs but even its coverage didn’t deviate too far from the south for good reason – there wasn’t anything to report.
There is mediocrity in their majesty
Aside from a scantily attended event in Ilkley, Yorkshire – paid for by the local authority – there was footage of similarly poorly attended events from Belfast to Edinburgh.
After panning across a particularly desolate plaza in Edinburgh, where a rag-tag of tourists were watching a big screen, BBC Scotland’s coverage took refuge with a “captive audience” in an old people’s home somewhere near Perth.
Propaganda as reality
The country has changed from the one which indulged in previous bouts of Royal hysteria to one which is much more circumspect.
The public – especially outside the South and London – have more pressing concerns in their everyday lives than to immerse themselves in this fiction.
Indeed it is apparent in Wales, the North and Scotland that the union reflected in the thousands of Union Jacks waving in London means very different things to different people.
Passive and non-participatory
In the end 24m tuned in to watch the wedding on TV – 75% of them on the BBC – but the lack of interest in celebrating it themselves speaks volumes about the great divide. London and the South are not Britain but to listen to the media the delusional thinking of the press and politicians you’d think they were.
Looking at 21st century Britain, it is sometimes difficult to imagine what Scotland, Wales and the North get from their union with the rest of the country.
The South and London-based political elite and its supporters – anxious to forget the role of the region’s in creating modern Britain – now see them as little more than a left-leaning financial, social and political burden.
Do you think the royal wedding emphasised the great divide or do you think it was an event that brought us closer together? Do discusss.
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Tags: 21st century britain, BBC and ITV, captive audience, Channel 4, delusional thinking, fancy dress party, fiction, lack of interest, mesmerised, new ruritania, political burden, poorly attended events, royal hysteria, the great divide, union jacks
