After the thrill of London 2012 I’ve had to watch, from afar, as profound and largely unprecedented social and political rifts opened up across British society, aggravated by two referendums.
It is somewhat ironic that the virus could now play a significant role in the healing, yet the underlying cultural raw material of re-unification may be remarkably similar to that which tore us apart.
Spitfires may not, for example, be a symbol that speaks of coming back together with them Germans, but the national mythology they sit within very definitely speaks of solidarity in extreme adversity, so I see the possibility that the faux-nostalgic mindset that has fed division since the referendums, might now help restore cohesiveness.
Generations of Brits have quietly hankered for a meaningful challenge as great as the one faced by those that went through the world wars.
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