Coronavirus and the myth of ‘Blitz spirit’

It had to be. We were barely into the first week of the coronavirus emergency than the Prime Minister and others started invoking the ‘Blitz spirit’. You know, that incomparable time soon after the start of world war two when Brits stood firm and united against the worst that Nazi Germany could hurl at our brave and plucky islands? People helped each other, class distinctions blurred, and the Queen Mother visited London’s bombed-out East End. We kept calm, we carried on, and we prevailed.

It has taken a few days, but now, equally inevitably, we have the march of the Blitz-spirit sceptics – of whom, I admit, to being one. Let’s not be too mealy-mouthed. As the enemy pounded British cities, there were extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity. There were many people who showed almost unbelievable fortitude (sometimes, of course, because they had to). But the ‘Blitz spirit’ then, as now, was largely a confection, a propaganda ploy applied to keep up morale.