State of Paralysis - Elsom, John

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Résumé :
We have not been driven into Brexit at the point of a gun or out of economic necessity, but purely for cultural reasons. State of Paralysis explores the climate of opinion in Britain that has led to more than seventy years of indecision about our relationship with our continental neighbours and our role on the world's stage. The post-war years saw many dramatic changes: the arrival of weapons of mass destruction, the nuclear industries, space travel, civil rights, global warming, the Internet, the digitalisation of behaviour and the loss of Empire. The aim of the European Union was to keep the peace on the continent and to face these global problems. But has it done so? Have we in Britain been able to adjust to the demands of the new world or are we clinging on to a past that can never be recovered? John Elsom describes the political impasse in parliament and the country over the terms of Brexit to analyse what these motives were, how they were obtained and where their consequences may lead. He approaches these issues from the view of a political and cultural commentator, who has seen at first hand many of the changes that have affected all our lives....

Biographie:
(i) Never Again (ii) The Dream of M. Monnet (iii) The Floating Island (iv) The Wind of Change (v) Acid Rain (vi) Untune That String (vii) The Smack of Firm Government (viii) Perspectives (ix) Maastricht and the Bastards (x) Breaking the Mold (xi) The Third Way (xii) Trial by Coalition (xiii) Raw Brexit (xiv) A Bloody Difficult Woman (xv) Square One Appendix: World War Movies and Documentaries from Radio Times Listings, 17-30 November 2018 Endnotes Index...

Sommaire:
John Elsom has been a writer since leaving university. His works include many books, plays and extensive journalism. He was the theatre critic for the BBC's magazine, The Listener, broadcast extensively and was a talent scout for Paramount Pictures. He was the world president of the International Association of Theatre Critics, a UNESCO NGO, and received a knighthood from the Romanian government for his services to European culture after the Cold War. He was awarded a PhD from City University in London and has taught as a visiting professor to universities in many parts of the world. With The Lutterworth Press, he published Missing the Point: The rise of High Modernity and the decline of Everything Else in 2007....