The Mood Is Gloom

Week by week the mood in Britain becomes stranger, more edgy, more apprehensive. Nobody can remember anything quite like it; not even in the worst days of the 1930s. Many people—and they tend to be the most intelligent and sophisticated—feel that an abyss of anarchy and economic disaster yawns just ahead, to be followed perhaps by some form of totalitarianism, either of the Right or of the Left. “I’d emigrate,” they say, only half-joking, “if I could think of anywhere to emigrate to.” Others, in effect, shrug their shoulders; agree that the future has become quite unpredictable; say there’s nothing they can do about it; and are spending what money they’ve got, while it’s still worth something.

The politicians, meanwhile, are preoccupied in maneuvering for the next election, which cannot be very long delayed. The date is entirely for the Prime Minister himself to choose; so the talk at Westminster, until the summer recess brought temporary relief, was all about timing and tactics. Parliament is deadlocked as a result of the last election; the opinion polls fluctuate wildly; and the shadow of an expected economic avalanche darkens every argument.

AL

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Anthony Lejeune

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British Conservative Party

Week by week the mood in Britain becomes stranger, more edgy, more apprehensive. Nobody can remember anything quite like it; not even in the worst days of the 1930s. Many people—and they tend to be the most intelligent and sophisticated—feel that an abyss of anarchy and economic disaster yawns just ahead, to be followed perhaps by some form of totalitarianism, either of the Right or of the Left. “I’d emigrate,” they say, only half-joking, “if I could think of anywhere to emigrate to.” Others, in effect, shrug their shoulders; agree that the future has become quite unpredictable; say there’s nothing they can do about it; and are spending what money they’ve got, while it’s still worth something.

The politicians, meanwhile, are preoccupied in maneuvering for the next election, which cannot be very long delayed. The date is entirely for the Prime Minister himself to choose; so the talk at Westminster, until the summer recess brought temporary relief, was all about timing and tactics. Parliament is deadlocked as a result of the last election; the opinion polls fluctuate wildly; and the shadow of an expected economic avalanche darkens every argument.