Silver Jubilee
As I watched the archive film of the events celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, after 25 years on the throne, I felt as if I was entering another world. The BBC coverage showed street parties, wheelbarrow races, egg-and-spoon races, fancy dress parades, floats - it all seemed more like a hundred years ago than a mere twenty-five. There was an ingenuousness about the festivities, an uncritical affection for the Royal Family and a strength of community, all of which have dissipated over the last quarter of a century.
'Across Britain there seems to have been a consistent pattern in the break-up of communities ...'
Since 1977 we've had rocketing oil prices, galloping inflation, rising unemployment, the 'winter of discontent', and Margaret Thatcher's chilling suggestion that 'there's no such thing as society'. On the royal front, the increasing accessibility of some members of the Royal Family has made people realise that they're harassed by the same problems as normal human beings. It's significant that the one person, apart from the Queen herself, who managed to keep her aura intact throughout the period was the Queen Mother, who always resolutely refused to be intimate with the media.
Across Britain there seems to have been a consistent pattern in the break-up of communities - urban as well as rural. In the country, idyllic farming villages have become commuter paradises; in the cities, ordinary families can no longer afford to live in their parents' houses as the yuppies move in.
Published: 2001-07-01
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