First, let me tell you that I love my country. I’m not just an Anglophile, I’m an Anglomaniac.
However, recently, it appears that some people have been losing their minds, including the BBC and certain political parties.
Some of these people are sincere, some are stupid, some are scared — and some have ulterior motives. All of these people make life difficult for others. I don’t know how the rest of you cope.
This month, swathes of the UK’s chattering classes got frantically worked up about a Christmas party a year ago.
To call it a ‘party’ is probably a contravention of the Trade Descriptions Act. It sounds like a few beers and a laptop were all that was needed for the Quiz Night at No 10. In Sweden, that’s a budget meeting on a Tuesday morning.
A scapegoat, the PM’s former press spokeswoman Allegra Stratton, was forced to resign. Because she was captured smiling on a private camera while discussing this “party”, she was forced to resign.
“Your universities are filled with incensed and self-important students who want to gag any person with even a slightly different viewpoint.” After Rod Liddle, South College columnist, made an appearance at the Christmas formal at South College, Durham University students protested and walked out.
The British political bubble seemed a lot like Red China when it was at its worst.
The Commons and media witchfinders still seek out new sacrifices. Some want Boris Johnson’s head on a spike. Some will accept the resignation of all the Cabinet members.
This outburst is a mystery to me. To me, the culprit is clear: this ‘madness of crowds’ is the inevitable consequence of successive lockdowns. Shutting down society is not only costly economically, as the rest of the world is discovering.
The financial consequences are unimaginable. In Britain, billions have been spent on furlough programs that have led to many businesses going bankrupt.
The inflation is rising, and millions of people have had their standard living cut to ribbons. Major industries continue to struggle.
The damage to mental health is vast, too; and it will take years to assess how many will see their lives shortened by undiagnosed cancers, heart ailments and diabetes because they have been deterred from seeking medical help by the slogan: ‘Protect The NHS, Save Lives’.
Sweden knew this. This is why we resist lockdown so vigorously.
There were many mistakes made by our government. We wish there were more things we could have done. However, I think we did the right thing in trying to maintain a normal functioning country.
As we’ve seen with our British neighbours and in Britain, lockdowns fundamentally degrade society. These lockdowns replace the normal with everyday weirdness. This can be frightening if it happens only for a couple of weeks. When it happens for 18 months on and off, the weird becomes normal — and returning to the sanity of the past becomes impossible.
As I watch with increasing sadness news coverage about the events in Britain, it seems that your country has a new puritan attitude. A phenomenon that was dormant since the English Civil War has now been awakened.
For the first time in centuries — perhaps since Oliver Cromwell and his peers outlawed Christmas celebrations — a bunch of self-important, joyless authoritarians are bossing everyone around. Many Britons appear to be happy to have their decisions made for them.
Jobsworths have seized the power they’ve always longed to possess: The ability to set their own rules and make them fair for all.
Let me tell you now: This is a terrible idea. Traffic wardens will rule your country.
Also, there’s the march to wokery. The universities you attend are filled with angry and self-important students who want to shame anyone who holds a different opinion. The Twitterati police everyone else’s language. Cancel culture is a scourge — and it must be resisted.
All that I cherish most about Britain is going to be destroyed when the woke puritans are in control. You can’t imagine that they would tolerate The Goon Show anarchy, Carry On Matron sauciness, or even The Beatles cheekiness.
“The price of shutting down society is not only economic, but also social.” After Tier 4 restrictions, Camden was closed.
When I was a teenager, your punk rock music thrilled me. Johnny Rotten sneering at mainstream pop and giving two fingers to anyone over 30 wouldn’t be permitted for five minutes now on the BBC’s sanitised airwaves.
In Britain, fun is at risk of being banned. This phenomenon goes beyond the Covid crisis. The End of Days is a fact that everyone accepts. All you have to do is pick the reason why Armageddon is happening.
Climate change, institutional racism, immigration, transphobia . . . No matter your political affiliation, it is essential that you believe that there will be an end to the world.
All sensible reserve — and dissent on mainstream broadcasters — has been abandoned. Everybody wears their emotions proudly, including football managers and politicians.
Is this a way to make people happier or stronger? It’s hell. Everyone is only getting more injured and offended from everything.
This is part of Boris Johnson’s problem. His innate ‘boosterism’ and positive nature are out of sync with the urgent need on Facebook and Twitter for people to parade their anxiety and ramp up, wherever possible, the Covid threat. So many people are increasingly determined not to be optimistic — instead, they demand attention for how miserable they are.
It puzzles me. There are many reasons for the British to be happy. I’ve idolised your culture since I was a toddler. What is the first thing that won me over? It was a Land Rover that I first saw on TV. This was it. I was hooked.
Emmerdale Farm was the show. Annie Sugden was my teacher and Old Amos taught me English with his lamb-chop sideburns.
52% of those who voted for you made the right choice: It is evident that the EU is on its way to collapse, and you are the ones that took the initiative. The moment that the UK resigned from the EU was celebrated by guests.
From the moment I learned to read, The Wind In The Willows was my favorite book. All my life I’ve worn your clothes, read your authors, followed your press.
I’m a lifetime member of the National Trust and a lifetime fan of Paul Weller. Britten, Elgar and The Cure rank next in my vinyl collection. I’ve written several books about you — and I’ve proudly defended your right to leave the European Union, too.
You, 52 percent of voters who voted against the EU made the right choice. It’s obvious that the EU is moving towards dissolution and you were the first to take action.
However, you can’t allow that trauma, followed by Covid’s cataclysm, to ruin your sense of humor.
We are gradually losing the public personality of Britain’s great eccentrics. I’ve always admired them above all because in Sweden we are instinctively conformist.
But not for you. Defiant oddballs are at the heart of the Establishment — headmasters, editors, soldiers, not to mention your royals.
They are still possible to produce them. Boris is an excellent example. Boris is the only person like him who could become Prime Minister of any country.
Your glorious eccentricity is wiped out if the Covid zealots and traffic wardens take over.
You cannot lose your national pride. Remember that you’re British and were made to be a joker.
- Johan Hakelius, the political editor-in chief of Fokus (a Swedish weekly that covers current events) and columnist for Expressen, is Johan Hakelius.