H/T StewGreen
The BBC is screening a new programme today…a play from the National Theatre.
In the days following the Brexit vote, a team from the National Theatre of Great Britain spoke to people nationwide, aged 9 to 97, to hear their views on the country we call home. In a series of deeply personal interviews, they heard opinions that were honest, emotional, funny and sometimes extreme.
The writers? Carol Ann Duffy and Rufus Norris.
Both of course voted to Remain…Norris was shocked by the result and set out to find out why it happened…though you get the feeling he thinks Leave voters are somehow misguided despite saying this…
“We’ve got to try to do what little we can to address the complete vote of no confidence in our system that that was,” Norris said.
“I don’t believe 17.5 million people are racists or idiots. I categorically don’t. I think we’ve got to listen.”
What does he mean by ‘address the complete vote of no confidence in the system’? Does he mean change the system or ‘educate’ the Leave voters into why they are wrong in their beliefs about that system? You suspect the latter though he admits “The challenge is to keep our own personal politics out of it; the point is to give a voice to other people.”
“I think what comes through very clearly is a strong rejection of modern politics, the selfishness, the career-driven nature of it,” he says, summarising the fury that emerges from the interviews. “Everybody is fed up with their communities being broken apart, the breakdown of the NHS, the wealth imbalance in this country. You feel a real kick against the misinformation, an awareness that everything they are being told is fiendishly biased.”
But then we get possibly the real Norris…
Norris, who voted remain, is nevertheless furious at the way the referendum was conducted, the way the media reported it, the lies, the propaganda, and the unfolding events in the US. He is uneasy at the powerful influence wielded by the Daily Mail. “How can we have an unelected person steering the country this way? Paul Dacre? Who the fuck is Paul Dacre? Who is he? Why does he have so much influence?” He has to pause, reminds himself to calm down, and laughs.
He is uneasy at the powerful influence wielded by the BBC….”How can we have an unelected person steering the country this way? Who the fuck is Lord Hall Hall? Who is he? Why does he have so much influence?”
And as for Leave voters…not idiots he claimed earlier…now, the real view?….
“What’s sad for me is that the referendum followed on from another referendum on these islands that was done very intelligently, where all the arguments were laid out clearly and everybody had a chance to look at both sides of the arguments and vote accordingly. The difference between that referendum and this one was massive. It was like the one we had was for idiots.”
And these Leave voters…what was the real cause for their vote maybe? Extreme selfishness….
“With the death in belief of the great them – whether they are politicians, kings and queens or experts – what do we believe in? We believe in ourselves. Cameras now are only used to take photos of ourselves – not of anything around us. We know we are in an age of extreme selfishness.”
Clearly Leave voters were not thinking of the harm and misery that artists would suffer, the trauma of no longer being an EU citizen, never being able to go to Europe ever again, no more entente cordial, no more ooh la la…..how will they survive? No idea that it is those who refuse to accept the vote who are selfish in the extreme then?
The Guardian’s take on the play…
I was struck by how often people’s fears, on a variety of subjects from the EU dictating the shape of bananas to the notion that asylum seekers are sending money home to “murderers and rapists”, seem to reflect the prejudices of the anti-European press…however well-intentioned, the show offers little in the way of fresh information or insights. We already knew that the EU had become a scapegoat for popular discontent and that there are serious fissures between, and within, the UK’s separate parts.
So he comes away with the idea that the Leave voters are all prejudiced and misled, that the EU is scapegoated and that Britain is divided.
It is a curious thing how the Remainers all like to paint Britain as a divided wreck, rent asunder by Brexit….why no such wailings after any general election…surely the country is even more split as the votes go to so many different parties? Just a political trick to paint Brexit as a disaster.
And one more thing…apparently 96% of artists were pro-EU and yet…Brexit will result in more art being done by more people, by more ethnic people and be seen by a far more diverse crowd, not only that but artists will be [miraculously battling the drawbridges that went up after Brexit] increasing their cooperation and work with Europe and the world….some failure, some isolation and some withdrawal into the bunker of a ‘little england’….
Norris believed the vote would be a catalyst to increase collaborations with arts organisations in Europe and further. “We are a world leader and we are not going to give up that position,” he said. “For us it is going to spur an increase in our collaborations with European partners and our international work. Being isolated is bad for culture and is very bad for society and there is no way we are going to go down that path.”
Asked what the cultural landscape might be like in 10 years as a result of Brexit, Mitchell said: “The culture and the art we look at will be much more representative of the Britain that we live in: more black faces, more working-class types of art, more regional representation.”
In other words the bunkers and bubbles were in place well before Brexit and it was those most opposed to Brexit that occupied them…isolated and aloof from the real Britain. Now they have to get off their backsides and really be creative and do some work.
It was like a fake debate were everyone seemed to be on anti-depressants, but still very miserable. Even after Nigel Farage was seen celebrating independence day, all the fake Brexit supporting actors were miserable.
There was balance as regards all the selected clips of political statements, but only by censoring anything sensible said by a Brexit supporter.
The statements consisted of irrational fears expressed by Remain supporters, balanced by jolly stories about crocodiles and bananas by Brexit supporters.
No mention about Brexit supporters wanting to changing the system back to a real democratic sovereign United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Or why Remain supporters love the way that the European Union governs us.
Britannia was seen lamenting about Mosques and it all ended in great misery. Wa Wa Wah.
Danke Merkel … European Peace?
I see that six miles away, the white working class people of Hull are under the heavy cosh of left-wing white middle-class southerners.
The posh, snobby and scruffy outsiders chose a Black faced person not born in Hull, as the face of the 2017 City of Culture. And all the faces on the four chosen pictures for the Turner prize, in Hull, are Black faces, although the two pictures not submitted by Afro-Caribbean’s do not have any faces on them.
But in reality, I would estimate that there is at least twice the percentage of Black faces, chosen by said southerner types above, in present day BBC Dramas, set before 1945, in England, than in present day Hull.
Didn’t watch this. Couldn’t even contemplate watching this, because I knew in my bones what the rotten BBC line would be.
The strange thing about the BBC blob and the luvvie Remoaners who think that all Brexiteers are stupid, is that they are shrieking so loudly that they can’t hear what others in the country are telling them. They won’t even try to listen, and so they never expose themselves to reasoned argument. (Nor allow those arguments on the airwaves without a reliable chorus of shriekers to howl them down.)
Are the people with the reasoned arguments about anti-democracy, sovereignty, political corruption and demonstrable lies by national governments really the stupid ones? Every day that goes past, the BBC and others reveal their true colours and it leaves a very nasty taste indeed.
These EU lovers (at great expense to the average Briton) never seem to know the first thing about the EU, its history and goals. They only know that wanting us to be part of the EU, and bankrolling it, makes them somehow better than those who don’t.
Where are the informed discussions about its origins in 1950s French communism? Its similarities to the USSR? Like the Supreme Soviet, the Commission is non-elected, can never be voted out by the people that it governs and is stuffed full of apparatchiks who are selected because they are committed to the system. And the banning of criticism…
The EU Parliament is a piece of theatre. No wonder they like it so much. Any one of them who tells you that the EU is democratic simply has no knowledge of its workings. That’s why they all hate Farage so much – because he exposes it for what it is: as in Soviet Russia, just rubberstamping the policies being handed down by the supreme body.
Who explained that to the Remainers? Not the BBC, that’s for sure.
Then there’s the Euro Army they all denied until they were blue in the face – “Farage!! Daily Mail scaremongering!!!” – until, that is, Juncker decreed it in his state of the union speech. Which also proclaimed the inevitability of ever closer union, the formation of a European state and, inevitably, the hegemony of Germany which grossly abuses its position in the EU after having been given a free economic ride when its debts were cancelled in 1953.
Do these self-congratulatory Beeboids, actors and playwrights and poets actually understand anything they lay claim to? Are they all neo-Communists, with no knowledge of the world outside the Old Vic bar – are they useful idiots or bare-faced liars – or are they simply snivelling little creeps who only care about mouthing the right message to keep their lovely, soft, right-on jobs like the young men who were only brave enough to call out Spacey when it was safe to do so?
Worst of all, these self-appointed loudmouths who claim to reflect and examine our society through their “art” are failing at the first hurdle. They are useless because they simply can’t take their blinkers off. I wonder if they can even work out that they are shooting themselves in the foot.
There is a story going on, and it’s an old fashioned one that has great emotional pull. It’s about democracy, and self-determination and the will of a people to remain free citizens. Until that is reflected, I don’t want to hear another word from the BBC about impartiality. And certainly no hoots of derision about “Stupid Brexiteers”.
Bravo Stella, well said.
Thank you! Being able to let off steam on this site saves my sanity sometimes. 😉
S2
One of the consequences of al beeb group think being unable to conceive of Blighty getting out of the EU is that there can be no discussion of how things might be when the handcuffs are removed.
I try to be a realist – perhaps we will be better afterward – public services improving , less immigration cheaper stuff .
Or maybe brexit will be a failure and in 5 or 10 years the majority will want to go back in – willing to pay the fine to rejoin .
But there is no such discussion . It really is a failure of public service broadcasting – particularly with 495 days to go.
Now come on you can’t expect the campaign group for the Labour Party (i.e. BBC) to allow an informed discussion. The BBC is no longer a public service broadcaster.
It is an anti British, anti White, anti normal, self serving organisation funded by a compulsory licence fee (that is paid by the many to serve the few).
Bring on the day when it becomes a subscription only service and we can pay only for the programmes we want to watch or listen to.
Have to go and feed the pigs now.
Excellent piece S2. I also studiously avoided what I suspected would be an anti Brexit hatchet job, as all news, drama, and comedy output from the Beeb seems to focus down on these days. Contrary to the oft repeated mantra of leave stupidity (especially Beeb outlets) my conversations with friends neighbours etc show a surprising and gratifying level of understanding of the issues involved particularly amongst Leave voters. Many Remainers were scared shitless by the negativity of the Remain campaign and chose the status quo only out of expediency and fear of the unknown. Many now say that they would vote Leave given half a chance and I am astounded that some current polls give a 50/50 split between Leave and Remain! Not in my world.
Whenever I ask a Remoaner what are the plans for Remain I get an incredulous look.
I then explain that Leave was constantly criticised because it had no plans for how to quit the EU.
So I ask again.
Another incredulous look. It is really hard work, I’m telling you.
So I then have to explain the question in simpler terms: what direction would the country take if we stayed in?
The answer I get – every time – is: we just carry on as we are now.
The lack of awareness amongst Remainers of the EU’s ultimate destination is staggering.
I couldn’t agree more and it’s nice to know that there are other people “as stupid as myself” around. Perhaps Animal Farm should become compulsory reading in schools but I suspect that it would be seen just as a fairy story even by some university students.
The comparison with the Soviet Union is a very valid point but again many of our younger generation will not even be aware of the Soviet era due to the way that history is taught, or not taught, in our educational establishments.
These millionaires of the Today Programme (or Show) can escape at any time and toddle off to their safe houses in the country (or another country) while the rest of us will have to be subjected to the will of minority, ethnic, celebrity no it alls, snowflake mentality groups.
They complain about leaving the EU but do not even know why we are in it. Come to that, I do not know either, but I do know that I voted to join the EEC in 1974 or 1975 at a time when the Labour Party was against joining the EEC.
Anyway when Jeremy gets in to No.10 and we all become equal, history lessons abolished unless approved by the State/BBC, we will see the errors of our previous ways and enter the land of milk & honey just like it was in the 1975 to 1979 era.
Ah, everything was so peaceful then, no unrest, no strikes, plenty of money for all, no unemployment, no militant tendency, or am I just dreaming?
If you ignore the BBC and go on YouTube you can find lots of interviews with the intelligent young university educated people of the UK who voted Remain and worry that leaving the EU will stop them from going on holiday, not allow them to use their mobile phones or get a job abroad. There was even a video of a girl crying because she thought Nandos would close because of Brexit ! One girl when asked to list her 3 favourite things about the EU said in first place the NHS !
And they say we are thick !
I know the video you mean – hilarious. My favourite part is the girl who thinks that an end to “free movement of people” means that young people will have to, like, pay for their flights to Europe!!
Funnily enough, my son and many of his genuinely bright fellow students voted Leave, including one who was reading PPE at Oxford. Similarly many children of friends. But those young people hold the facebook snowflakes in some contempt and don’t engage in the social media madness. Obviously, to the BBC, though that means they don’t exist.
Stella,
I enjoy being called thick – having spent 2 years studying the EU and it’s legal system – which included having the read and understand all those ever closer treaties I had no doubt about leaving .
I remember the debates about joining . I was too young to vote but go suckered in by promises of a “Common Market” and no more .
Never trust a politician ( few exceptions ) never trust a journo ( even fewer exceptions).
Too much bloody self interest about in those people .
F2 and Johnnythefish, you are so right. The Remainers’ lack of understanding is indeed staggering and there is very clearly no interest in a proper, informed debate. A tiny amount of independent research will flag up all kinds of ways that we have been played all the way along.
The terrible truth is that our political elite, civil servants, big business and national broadcaster are all complicit. Because they want power, both political and economic, their voices are loudly promoted – but that does not make them right. It makes them bullies who are showing their anti-democratic, anti-UK hands, and it has been truly shocking to see so many of them reveal themselves.
Juncker: “We decide on something, leave it lying around, and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don’t understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back.”
“When it becomes serious, you have to lie.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10967168/Jean-Claude-Junckers-most-outrageous-political-quotations.html
Good God, No one told me that Nandos would close. John Humph needs to get someone one on the Today Fun Show and ask the question. Boris might know the answer but if hes doesn’t Michelle Barnaby should.
I am shocked at this revelation. By the way what is Nandos?