Great post OP, thank you. I was in my late 30’s in 1997 and remember clearly the day I woke up to be told of Princess Diana’s death (at my wife’s, cousin’s flat in one of the new dockside developments in Manchester). It was very shocking at the time, quite unreal, but even more so I remember the way things went afterwards.
She was, I felt, instantly deified. She was well known and generally well-liked before as I recall, but there seemed to be what I remember describing to my wife of the time as an “Americanisation of collective grief”when she died. I see it as the beginning of the social media culture in a way, notwithstanding that the internet barely existed at that point, where very public displays of emotion became not only normalised, but valued in themselves.
I really wish people would stop treating Blair’s victory as a glorious revolution that changed everything when all it confirmed was that the status quo are destined to rule over us forever
‘It was also the abolition of Britain in another way, the Scottish referendum that year leading to a form of devolution that has never really worked successfully; with the UK system now lopsided and Scotland ruled by a one-party state, without enough power to actually make them unpopular but enough to embed nationalism into everyday life.’
He lost me here. ‘Wah wah one-party *nationalists*…’ Ridiculous level of insight. The SNP are still winning elections after 14 years in power, clearly they’re doing something right. Plus the opposition is just fucking dreadful.
The real mystery is why they changed that back cover.
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Great post OP, thank you. I was in my late 30’s in 1997 and remember clearly the day I woke up to be told of Princess Diana’s death (at my wife’s, cousin’s flat in one of the new dockside developments in Manchester). It was very shocking at the time, quite unreal, but even more so I remember the way things went afterwards.
She was, I felt, instantly deified. She was well known and generally well-liked before as I recall, but there seemed to be what I remember describing to my wife of the time as an “Americanisation of collective grief”when she died. I see it as the beginning of the social media culture in a way, notwithstanding that the internet barely existed at that point, where very public displays of emotion became not only normalised, but valued in themselves.
I really wish people would stop treating Blair’s victory as a glorious revolution that changed everything when all it confirmed was that the status quo are destined to rule over us forever
‘It was also the abolition of Britain in another way, the Scottish referendum that year leading to a form of devolution that has never really worked successfully; with the UK system now lopsided and Scotland ruled by a one-party state, without enough power to actually make them unpopular but enough to embed nationalism into everyday life.’
He lost me here. ‘Wah wah one-party *nationalists*…’ Ridiculous level of insight. The SNP are still winning elections after 14 years in power, clearly they’re doing something right. Plus the opposition is just fucking dreadful.
The real mystery is why they changed that back cover.