“Life isn’t just about bunting,” observed Kim Shillinglaw, the controller of BBC2, this week. “We could do more to get closer to the national conversation.”
What is it with bunting, anyway? And The Great British Bake Off, and “vintage”, and Victoria sponge, Kilner jars with home-pickled currants, gingham and Cath Kidston and tea roses on crockery, crochet and craft and posters saying “Keep Calm and Carry On”? What drives this nostalgia, which is so much more than a visual reference or even a set of new dietary rules? It is an announcement of identity – but what self does it declare?
'What drives this nostalgia, which is so much more than a set of new dietary rules?'
Related: How the Tories dehumanise low-paid families – or should I say ‘benefit units’ | Zoe Williams
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