http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/adrian-hamilton-a-
great-escape-dunkirk-was-actually-a-humiliation-for-british-
forces-1978769.html
What was special about Dunkirk was partly Winston Churchill. It's
difficult to appreciate now just what his honed eloquence meant at
the time. It wasn't that people naturally warmed to this figure
from the Edwardian past or shared his vision of Britain's
"greatness". But they did appreciate what he was doing. Churchill's
rhetoric was directed to try to embody the national mood and to
lift it. It's a gift no one has repeated since. Perhaps television
makes it impossible. Perhaps only extremity makes it workable. But
one wonders why, in this age of economic crisis, politicians are so
reluctant to try to talk for the people as a whole.
It is the same with the Dunkirk spirit. Elevated emotion has gone
out of fashion since the war. But if you regard the spirit as
basically determined realism, it may yet be underappreciated as a
British characteristic. Certainly the recent election campaign
showed an almost universal belief by politicians that the
electorate was not up to facing the truth about the country's
condition. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps the opinion polls do
suggest a reluctance by the British to accept reality, as Churchill
had feared after Dunkirk. But it wasn't the case then, and maybe
politicians should have more faith in it now.
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