Reply #19: G.B.H. [View All]

[mogster]

Tony Blair went from global village magician to global village idiot during the ten year span from 1997 to 2007. How come?

In understanding what went on in the New Labour revolution, try some cultural influence:



The synopsis, as written at the wikipedia:

The central characters were Michael Murray (played by Robert Lindsay), the Militant Labour leader of an unnamed City Council in the north of England, and Jim Nelson (played by Michael Palin), the headmaster of a school for disturbed children. The series was controversial partly because the character of Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, the real-life former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council - indeed in an interview included in the G.B.H. DVD boxed set Bleasdale recounts an accidental meeting with Hatton, before the series had even been recorded, in which the latter indicates that he has caught wind of Bleasdale's intentions, but does not mind as long as the actor playing him is "handsome".
(...)
G.B.H. is set in the early 1990s, towards the end of the Thatcher years, when numerous attempts were made by local left-wing councils to achieve significant degrees of autonomy (not least in Bleasdale's home city of Liverpool, see municipal socialism). The plot revolves around the deliberate attempt by UK government secret services to discredit and bring down Murray's leadership. On an ideological level this involves a left-wing theoretician, Mervyn, who is himself manipulated by MI5 agent Lou. Meanwhile, another MI5 agent Peter has recruited a gang of thugs, posing as left-wing activists (and, later, policemen) as agents provocateurs. Each episode reveals more about the convoluted nature of the plot to discredit Murray.

I watched it in the 90's (1992, probably), at the time I wasn't very awake, and it was a strange series. As if from another world, for a not very politically interested Norwegian ;-)
This is Michael Palin in a way you usually don't see him: drama acting with little of the Monty Python absurd humor (although Palin acts a partly absurd role; he has a compulsion to stand naked in closets), but it did set a undertow of emotions going in me then, and I have repeatedly thought about it since 2001, when I became political aware. In some sense, this is culture meets politics, as Palin's character Nelson isn't very politically suave, he is no match for the scheming Murray (not to mention the ever-plotting MI5) who just wants it all so much.

In understanding what went on in British politics (and probably other countries) after the Berlin wall fell, this is a good film experience.