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No Cause for Alarm
Take of the current situation in the UK in 1949 when the Labor Party had eclipsed the Labor Party, instituting many social policies like the National Health Services, British Rail, Coal, etc...
333 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1949
2 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Cowles
30 books66 followers(Harriet) Virginia Spencer Cowles OBE was a noted American journalist, biographer, and travel writer. During her long career, Cowles went from covering fashion, to covering the Spanish Civil War, the turbulent period in Europe leading up to World War II, and the entire war. Her service as a correspondent was recognized by the British government with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1947. After the war, she published a number of critically acclaimed biographies of historical figures. In 1983, while traveling with her husband in France, she was killed in an automobile accident near Biarritz.
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September 23, 2016
Cowles, an American war reporter and writer, explains how British socialism is not at all Marxism so it is no cause for alarm. I enjoyed reading a shrewd contemporary account of the UK in 1949. Her descriptions of a British culture, a snapshot in time, resonates as my own culture is undergoing profound shifts (resulting, I believe, in a very serious Trump presidential candidacy) Cowles went full-on Anglophile, even marrying one and moving to London. I approve of her message.
“No country places such emphasis on historical continuity as Britain, and as a result new ideas [i.e. socialism] are never allowed to wipe out old institutions [i.e. constitutional monarchy] but are gently grafted on to them.” “It only works because everybody bends over backward to make it work.” “Indeed, it is because of Britain’s genius for right-wing government that it has been possible for the nation to make the long transition from feudal days to social democracy with so little violence and such striking continuity.”
On Oxford: “[it] is largely responsible for the characteristics that stamp English public men; an ability to compromise which has always meant an ability to submerge party differences in times of crisis.” “Its spell lies in the freedom it offers both spirit and intellect. Americans are often surprised at the latitude students are allowed….” “Much of Oxfords charm remains rooted in its reluctance to force itself on its students.” “[It is] designed for students to study rather than teachers to teach.” What? No safe spaces and trigger warnings???
On the post-WWII Tory defeat: “The British have never followed heroes blindly…. Such hard-headed logic has always been a British characteristic and is probably the reason that dictatorships strike the English as slightly comical….”
On the BBC: “Americans claim they give the people what they want while the British give them what they think they ought to have. The British answer is that it is possible to make people want something better.”
I understand that 1949 was part of a loooong era dominated by the old white boys club. This book is not about debunking all that. It’s an ode to British socialism that we can all agree upon for the sake of efficiency and fairness as opposed to dogma.
“No country places such emphasis on historical continuity as Britain, and as a result new ideas [i.e. socialism] are never allowed to wipe out old institutions [i.e. constitutional monarchy] but are gently grafted on to them.” “It only works because everybody bends over backward to make it work.” “Indeed, it is because of Britain’s genius for right-wing government that it has been possible for the nation to make the long transition from feudal days to social democracy with so little violence and such striking continuity.”
On Oxford: “[it] is largely responsible for the characteristics that stamp English public men; an ability to compromise which has always meant an ability to submerge party differences in times of crisis.” “Its spell lies in the freedom it offers both spirit and intellect. Americans are often surprised at the latitude students are allowed….” “Much of Oxfords charm remains rooted in its reluctance to force itself on its students.” “[It is] designed for students to study rather than teachers to teach.” What? No safe spaces and trigger warnings???
On the post-WWII Tory defeat: “The British have never followed heroes blindly…. Such hard-headed logic has always been a British characteristic and is probably the reason that dictatorships strike the English as slightly comical….”
On the BBC: “Americans claim they give the people what they want while the British give them what they think they ought to have. The British answer is that it is possible to make people want something better.”
I understand that 1949 was part of a loooong era dominated by the old white boys club. This book is not about debunking all that. It’s an ode to British socialism that we can all agree upon for the sake of efficiency and fairness as opposed to dogma.
Displaying 1 of 1 review