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| | | Do we need a national story? | | by Alex von Tunzelmann Dec 13, 2021 | | Patriotic tales are easy enough to debunk. That doesn’t make them irrelevant We’ve heard much about the importance of stories in recent years. It has been said that Vote Leave won the Brexit referendum because they told a better story than Remain; that Donald Trump won the US election in 2016 because he told a better story than Hillary Clinton, and lost in 2020 because his story fell apart. Some think the Labour party has struggled to turn the tide decisively against a corrupt, chaotic government because it doesn’t have a clear story to tell. Stories have been central to community organisation for as long as communities have been organised. As Nesrine Malik writes in her insightful collection of essays, We Need New Stories: “Every social unit, from the family to the nation state, functions on the basis of mythology, stories that set them apart from others.” National stories can support any viewpoint: left or rightwing, liberal or authoritarian. They are integral to nationalism and represent a form of identity politics. While many across the political spectrum dislike nationalism and identity politics, the world is mostly made up of nation states. Unless that changes, those nations will continue to be part of how we identify ourselves – whether or not we embrace or reject their dominant values. Politicians of all stripes ignore the power of national stories at their cost. Continue reading... | | | | | Those we lost in 2021: Stephen Sondheim remembered by Imelda Staunton | | by Guardian Staff Dec 13, 2021 | | 22 March 1930 – 26 November 2021
The actor on the American composer and lyricist who changed musicals, and whose warmth and generous spirit were equally present in the theatre and at home If I close my eyes and think of Stephen Sondheim, I remember him sitting in my kitchen in north London. It wasn’t a showbiz fest. It was just talking about nothing, about life, about dogs. He was this amazing, mellow man, so personable and warm. Even at the time, I thought, blimey, here is this legend, having a beer in my kitchen. That’s one for the book! He was so extraordinary, the last of the big boys, the final link with the great American songbook, a man with personal connections to Oscar Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein. He changed musicals, made unhappy musicals happen. He set down such a very good path that led in so many different directions. Continue reading... | | | | | |
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