{Circles of History}[12th June 1983]

[Redbook2:285-287][19830612:1230]{Circles of History}[12^th June 1983]

19830612.1230

It is possible to fit the pattern of circles onto recent British history, taking the key indicators to be females in power. So, Victoria ascended to the throne during the late stage of the Industrial Revolution, and during her reign a great force for Unification can be observed in Britain and the World. However, particularly during the later part of her reign a principle of external discipline – Ordination – overcame the efforts of a few to turn the culture to Love (William Morris? Pre-Raphaelites (a happy name)? – the early Chartists??). Where it survived, Love was generally corrupted: the archetypal Victorian bourgeois (not necessarily one man*, of course) has sexual intercourse with his housemaid but sends his scandalously pregnant daughter to a lunatic asylum.

This perhaps prepared the Nation for Action in the great War, which though in the short term successful did her immense structural damage. The situation becomes more confused: the Twenties of the General Strike may be Complication, the World War may be Distraction, interlinked with other greater and lesser Circles.

All this time the sub-Culture runs the other way, mainly through the Arts I should guess.

After the War Britain is led rapidly through the Destruction of her Empire and Economy during Colonial and Cultural Revolutions – marked by the ascent to the Throne of Queen Elizabeth II. In the closing stages of this Circle the female key is reinforced: Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister with the stated and successful intention of Simplifying the British Economy (not her words). The signs of Unification in Britain – during the Falklands War and the second [General] Election – are present.

*{!}[i.e doing both those things, presumably]

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