The British have become a nation of mental serfs
That the British have become a nation of mental serfs — I speak grosso modo, of course — is suggested by the headlines starting with the locution “It’s official … ” commonly to be found in journals of various tendencies.
I took cognisance of this recently when I noticed three headlines in the supposedly hip magazine, Time Out. “It’s official: this is the best thing to do in 2025”; “It’s official: Leyton is one of the coolest places on the planet”; “It’s official: the USA is the third best country in the world”.
In The Times I found “It’s official — 32 per cent of women are sad”. And in the Guardian I found “Now it’s official: Brexit will damage the economy long into the future”; “It’s official: muddy kids learn best”; “It’s official: art makes you happy”; “It’s official: the bedroom tax causes misery”.
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Theodore Dalrymple is a contributing editor of City Journal and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
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