OPINION: There is a strange sociopolitical phenomenon that takes place in Britain every 20-30 years. Each time there is a lengthy period of Tory rule followed by the Labour Party coming to power, there is a major cultural shift at roughly the same time.
It happened in 1945, with the end of the war and the birth of the Welfare State; in 1964, it was the sexual revolution and Beatlemania, and in 1997, shiny centrist modernisation and Cool Britannia. But what will be the changes, if any, in 2024?
The past 14 years have been lived under Conservative control, and the story has gone something like this: austerity, Brexit, Covid and finally, widespread malaise.
But there was very little excitement of the kind there was in 1997, when Tony Blair brought to an end 18 years of Tory governments. The soundtrack of that election was the D:Ream dance hit Things Can Only Get Better, which summed up the feelings of a generation. There was genuine optimism in the air, a real sense of possibility and a kind of insurgent confidence.
You could see it in the arts, where shortly after Blair’s win, the so-called Young British Artists (Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin et al) held an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts called Sensation. I remember going to the opening night and there was a definite cultural swagger about the place, the palpable belief that the most happening city in the world right then was London.
Musically, Britpop was going strong with Oasis, Blur, Pulp and The Verve. Of course, you can’t measure the political temperature of a country by its music scene, but it does provide a guide to the nation’s spirit.
There is very little optimism about nowadays. Labour will come to power not on a wave of hope but rather because the Tories are utterly washed out. The past eight years have stretched the patience of even their staunchest supporters. Far from unleashing some buried seam of energy, as its proponents claimed, Brexit has knocked the stuffing out of Britain, economically, culturally and creatively.
The biggest event this summer has been Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. She’s an amazing performer but the near-total dominance of an American act in the UK also has something to do with the absence of a vibrant local scene. In fact, across the arts, there is a bit of an identity crisis under way. And the same could be said of politics.
People here are far more likely to discuss the American presidential election later this year than our own general election. True, it’s fear of Donald Trump that animates most such conversations, yet there is also a deep boredom with British politics, which has seen a succession of ever more ridiculous or ineffectual prime ministers, and now has, in Starmer, a man who appears competent but dull.
He will almost certainly be a huge improvement on what’s gone before but he doesn’t set anyone’s heart beating faster. Not much does these days. There’s the football team competing in Uefa Euro 2024, the major European competition. But so far, they have been universally derided as tedious, despite possessing some of the world’s best players.
Perhaps, if the team could somehow reverse its form and win the competition, it might inject some much-needed pride into the national psyche.
It could even inspire Starmer to show some verve and imagination. Because, if you had to invent a song title to capture the current national mood, it would probably be Things Can’t Get Any Worse.
Andrew Anthony is an Observer writer married to a New Zealander.
