The Spirit of the Blitz

[Chickenkatsu]

blogs.warwick.ac.uk/markharrison/entry/brexit_as_economic/

Fourth, our willingness to “keep calm and carry on” will be much less than was the case in 1939 or 1914. We are not at war. We are divided among ourselves. Our government is representative of an extreme, not of a broad national coalition. Half the country expects Brexit to be painless or quickly beneficial. The other half sees it as a self-inflicted wound. Neither of these constituencies seems likely to put up with much pain for the good of the cause.

Who exactly do you consider to be your enemy then?

The people who funded the illegal Leave campaign and lied to people about what leave meant. The government for continuing this utter shitstorm that will cripple the country financially and end jobs without allowing people a second vote now that they actually know the seriousness of the outcome.

If you're defining blitz spirit as carrying on as usual with conditions getting ever more difficult then I don't want it. Life can be hard now, when it's so easy compared to many countries.

However the leavers I know define it as everyone uniting together for the greater good. That isn't going to happen.

What about the people who voted for Brexit? Are they your enemy too? Would you use violence on them? Another poster has said she would. I hope she was exaggerating.

I consider people who voted for this not worthy of banding together with, how, and I'm certainly not interested in sharing and caring with or for them, either. They can go get knotted. That's not the same as violence but I'd not go out of my way to band together with them in some stupid misguided belief in something that happened over 75 years ago.

What about the people who voted for Brexit? Are they your enemy too? Would you use violence on them?

Where have I said anything about violence? Was there much violence at the march?

And no, they are not my enemy. They were lied to and misled. Some of them are racist fuckholes, (and you can guarantee that every racist fuckhole voted leave), but not all by any means. The leave voters were lied to repeatedly and in an at least underhand if not illegal way.

Not so much the blitz spirit. More a civil war as far as I can see

Despite the Blitz spirit of World War Two, crime rose from 303,771 offences in 1939 to 478,000 in 1945.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-33566789

When I read some of the language people choose to use on both side It really worries me about the future.

What about the people who voted for Brexit? Are they your enemy too? Would you use violence on them? Another poster has said she would. I hope she was exaggerating.
I don't blame people for voting how they did in 2016 but would certainly 'blame' anyone who supports no deal. I would not use violence on them, but I certainly wouldn't help them either. I would also remind them - if they were suffering any of the negative effects outlined in Yellowhammer - that this was what they voted for. I really don't think people give voting enough thought before trotting along to the polling station. It would be good for them to be reminded that voting has consequences. I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell me how condescending I am

When I read some of the language people choose to use on both side It really worries me about the future.
Yes, calling your fellow citizens 'enemies of the people' and 'traitors' is extremely worrying. Can you give similar examples of equally inflammatory language used by the other 'side'?

During the war there was a huge black market, if you had the money you could buy nearly anything you wanted at a vastly inflated price. Does anyone think that this would probably happen again if the country was in crisis again?

Despite the Blitz spirit of World War Two, crime rose from 303,771 offences in 1939 to 478,000 in 1945.

And don’t forget that is just reported and recorded crime.

You could also ask babyboomers - how did their parents seem to them?

I am one so I can answer. My parents went on and on about the war when we were growing up. DH lived in Hull for part of it, and talked about how the bombers would go over, miss the intended target, see the city lit up by the Humber estuary and wham drop their load before returning home. This happened night after night. He talked about the looting, also about the Minister for Information Duff Cooper, who had people paid to spread morale boosting stories - Cooper's Duffs they were nicknamed.

DM talked about butchers especially would almost chop their fingers off trying not to give you an ounce more meat than you were entitled to. Once I reached 17, the age she was when the war started (broke out), any slight grumble from me or DB was met with 'When I was your age, there was a war on'. This went on for six years, and I remember the time when my mother started up with 'When I was your age..... the war had finished', she said in some amazement and finally laid it to rest.

Both my DPs were on war work so avoided being called up, so were aware that they had it easier than some people. But DM did realise that she was lucky, and apart from her city having two nights of heavy bombing, she missed the worst. She always reckoned that a boyfriend she had had, who had been evacuated from Dunkirk, never really got over the horror. Another wartime relationship also bit the dust, causing her much heartache, at a time when had their been peace she might have been carefree.

So no, no happy stories of the War in our household.

Lies Pere. It was all people singing Roll Out The Barrel around a piano in the bomb shelters.

Interesting Peregrina, thanks. The psychological effects on a whole generation must have been huge.

Regarding the crime - it was argued that more people died than necessary in bombing raids because of the blitz spirit: they were so brave and resilient (or busy singing round the piano) that they refused to leave their homes. More recent research suggests that most of those people stayed in their houses because of fear of burglars and looters.

It always infuriated DF that the bombs in London made the news, but never the bombing in Hull.

The Blitz Spirit isn’t people being happy during the Blitz. It refers to people trying to carry on with their lives as normally as possible.

our willingness to “keep calm and carry on” will be much less than was the case in 1939

The innocent refugees and so called foreigners that Churchill put in detention camps probably felt the same as the innocent refugees and so called foreigners that this Brexit regime is putting in detention camps, to be fair.

Rationing at least meant that the British poor had a fairer access to food during WW2

Who thinks that will be the case on November 1st?

Oh, by the way.

We are not at war. Yet.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49426434

Do we get the backstreet abortions, rickets, polio and outside toilets too?

@BrexitBingoGenerator what’s the name of that novel please?

My grandmother survived the Blitz. She voted leave. She's an avid Daily Express reader, unfortunately.

Peregrina I didn't know much about the Hull blitz and I have been doing history for many years. I needed to research there recently (looking for a Victorian shop - bit daft as something like 90% of buildings were bombed). I was surprised how much I didn't know, it's quite shocking how the Hull bombing has been overlooked.
At the time it was kept secret. In the papers it was called something like 'a north-east coast town'. It must have been awful to suffer and not have it acknowledged.

It clearly addled her brain WTF.

@JingsMahBucket I just checked and it was called What Was Promised - it was really really good.

howwudufeel You seem to think that 'people carrying on as normal' means 'everything was normal'.

No it wasn't.

It was people trying to find some grounding in a frightening, unpredictable world. It was people trying to ensure their owns, at worst, survival (given that many didn't); at best, some sort of future for them and their loved ones.

Many took full advantage of weaker people; graft and corruption was rife. Fear, power games, and corruption - lurked the lanes.

'Blitz Spirit' was coined by the Dominic Cummings of the day.

My parents were primary schoolers during WW2. The shadow of it loomed over their lives, thus afflicted mine. However, they, like you, would probably have Brexited, because ' We won over the Hun', as their Telegraph would have reminded them on a daily basis. As they, and the pitiful Mail do, today. But remind them of the privations, the shortages, the impoverishment of their young lives, the lack of hope for a better future... (my parents went to east Africa in 1957...), suddenly would they start singing 'White Cliffs of Dover'...?

I think you'd be hard pressed to have raised any 'Blitz Spirit' in them.

I see 'Blitz Spirit' in Brexiteer slogans, like ' it will all be rather same, nothing will change' (er, so why Brexit? Separate issue) and so forth.

But 36% of the electorate brought this upon everyone. We aren't 'pulling together' against a common enemy, we're hating you for bringing this on us all; for your ignorance.

I can't see myself lobbing bricks through your windows, but don't you dare suggest I need some faux, manufactured 'Blitz Spirit' in order for me to forgive you, nay, Celebrate for what you mindlessly visited upon me. And mine.