A new english lockdown, a new us president, a new french war on terror? | thearticle

Thearticle

A new english lockdown, a new us president, a new french war on terror? | thearticle"


Play all audios:

Loading...

England is on the eve of a new lockdown. America is probably on the eve of a new President. France may be on the eve of a new war on terror. A year ago, none of these events was predicted.


If we had been able to look into the future then, the world we are now living in would have seemed almost unrecognisable. A year from now, the same may be true. Just about the only thing of


which we can be certain is that the earth will continue to turn on its axis and Boris Johnson’s hair will still defy gravity. The unpredictability of events has itself proved to be


unpredictable. We used to suppose that the unknowns were mostly known, or at least in principle knowable. We know, for example, that Presidents of the United States can lose elections after


only one term of office. It just doesn’t happen very often. (The last time was 28 years ago.) What was not only unknown but unknowable was that Donald Trump would be swept out of office by a


coronavirus pandemic . Even more surprising for those who treat the past as a guide to the future, Trump — at 70, the oldest US President ever to take office — is about to be replaced by an


even older one. A year ago it was far from certain that Joe Biden would even win the Democratic nomination. Now he is poised to take the White House by storm. Likewise, we have known for


years that relations between France and the Muslim world were on a knife edge, ever since the _Charlie Hebdo _and Bataclan massacres in Paris five years ago. There have been murders and


arson attacks on the Catholic Church before. What could not have been foreseen, however, was that Emmanuel Macron’s declaration of war on Islamist terror in reaction to the beheading of a


French teacher for showing his class the cartoons that were the pretext for the 2015 massacres would then lead by a chain reaction to the condemnation and boycott of France by the leaders of


nominally friendly Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Egypt and especially Turkey. The ferocity of President Erdogan’s denunciation of his French counterpart has astonished Western


diplomats and alarmed the intelligence community. Erdogan used every inflammatory comparison in the book, from Crusaders to Nazis. Infuriated by Macron’s threat to cut off foreign funding of


French Islam, he is deliberately whipping up paranoia in France by evoking a non-existent threat: a persecution of French Muslims. With France already facing violent protests against


lockdown, the prospect now looms of what has been described as a “low-level civil war” in the _banlieues, _the desolate housing estates that ring French cities. As Marx and Engels might have


said, a spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of Islamist revolution.   And what of Britain? Battered but not broken by Covid-19, the country is preparing to enter a tunnel with only a


flicker of light at the end. When asked if this month-long lockdown might be extended until the new year, Michael Gove was honest enough to reply: “Yes.” In response, the political landscape


is already shifting. Nigel Farage, as quick to dump Trump as he once was to embrace him, is rebranding himself as the leader of an anti-lockdown “Reform Party”. The last time Farage did


this, conjuring the Brexit Party out of thin air, the Conservatives finally pressed Theresa May’s ejector button. Boris Johnson was supposed to be the new James Bond: licensed to kill the


new threat from the hard Right, while seeing off Jeremy Corbyn and the hard Left. All this came to pass, less than a year ago. Now, however, Boris Johnson is looking less like the late Sir


Sean Connery as 007 and more like Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring. After all the tumult of the last 12 months, who could say with confidence that the Prime Minister will still be in his


job a year from now? One thing, however, is certain: the West is not done for yet. If the United States could survive four years of Trumpery, it will surely survive Uncle Joe, too. (Although


it is, of course, by no means certain that Biden will last four years.) If France could survive five republics, four revolutions, three monarchies, two empires and one dictatorship since


1789, she can surely survive the fury of a Turkish demagogue. What of the people of England? Nigel Farage may claim that they never have spoken yet, but when in fact they did speak last


December, they rejected his brand of populist demagogy, just as they rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s brand of anti-social and anti-Semitic socialism. Provided that the PM can offer consistent and


coherent leadership in the coming weeks of maximum uncertainty, there is no reason why confidence in the Government should collapse. We now know from the recently published Home Intelligence


reports during the grim years of 1940-41 (_The Spirit of the Blitz, _edited by Paul Addison and Jeremy Crang, OUP £30) that morale fluctuated, rumours abounded and some groups — including


Jews and Catholics — were scapegoated by many. Yet the Blitz spirit was more than a myth: the British really did rally round Churchill and endured the almost unendurable because they


believed that they would ultimately triumph over Hitler. The finest hour was made possible by faith in final victory. Today’s ordeal is of an entirely different order from that of 1940-41,


because the enemy is unseen and still largely unknown — hence the unpredictability of the pandemic. Yet one key aspect of the future can be predicted: that a Covid spirit is indeed emerging


to match the Blitz spirit of fourscore years ago. This people  — not only the English, but the British people — will pull through. And _TheArticle _will continue to give voice to a wide


spectrum of opinion for as long as our growing army of members permits us to do so. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have


an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout the pandemic. So please, make a donation._


Trending News

Top trades to go before the closing bell

The "Halftime Report" traders revealed their game plans for the rest of the trading day. Joe Terranova was foc...

Lions in alaska | science news

Science News was founded in 1921 as an independent, nonprofit source of accurate information on the latest news of scien...

Falkirk service to mark 110th anniversary of tragic first world war troops' rail journey

THE NOW ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE EVENT ON THURSDAY COMMEMORATES THE QUINTINSHILL RAIL DISASTER IN 1915 17:28, 20 May 2025Updat...

How do bank accounts for children in france work?

MOST BANKS HAVE JUNIOR ACCOUNTS THAT CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT PARENTAL PERMISSION READER QUESTION: WE WANT TO OPEN A BANK ...

Large-area nanolattice film with enhanced modulus, hardness, and energy dissipation

ABSTRACT We present an engineered nanolattice material with enhanced mechanical properties that can be broadly applied a...

Latests News

A new english lockdown, a new us president, a new french war on terror? | thearticle

England is on the eve of a new lockdown. America is probably on the eve of a new President. France may be on the eve of ...

Photo gallery: yongbyon nuclear power station

------------------------- * * X.com * Facebook * E-Mail * * * X.com * Facebook * E-Mail * Messenger * WhatsApp * Dieser ...

The page you were looking for doesn't exist.

You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.By proceeding, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and our ...

Diesel drivers in france can face €1,000 bills if adblue system fails

A CONSUMER GROUP HAS FLAGGED UP PROBLEMS WITH A SYSTEM INTENDED TO CLEAN UP EXHAUST FUMES Technology designed to improve...

How dwayne stole amy's heart - and $300k - aarp

Memorial Day Sale! Join AARP for just $11 per year with a 5-year membership Join now and get a FREE gift. Expires 6/4  G...

Top