Abstract

The Second World War – saturation bombing of civilians, the Holocaust, Hiroshima – ruptured historical understanding, whether history was thought of as an onward march or repeating circles. Nothing like this had happened before, and the post-war stasis indicated a society in shock. It could be argued that it was not until les événements of 1968 that a new start was made. And after this, the angst of the age was exacerbated by the disintegration of ideological certainties, especially the collapse of Communism. In Britain, politics grew ever more out of step with lived reality: with de-industrialisation, Labour lost much of its raison d’être while the Conservatives, in thrall to a simplistic Thatcherism, seemed unwilling to conserve anything.