Society
Cristina Odone on why we don't have civil war
Published 23 September 2002
If it weren't for fox-hunting, we would now be in the middle of a civil war
The talk is of war. The mood is tense, with politicians whispering of retaliation, experts murmuring of an imminent strike. Observers claim the enemy is running scared. Are we talking Iraq? No, stupid, fox-hunting. The time has come to free the nation from that axis of evil - hunters, hounds and horses. Let's roll!
This is a clash of civilisations - or at least of establishments. In one corner, we have the old, uber-English world of country folk and bugling riders, deemed synonymous with Britishness by foreigners, and, until recently, innocuous enough to adorn place mats, mugs and walls on pubs. In the other corner, we have the new Labour world of bien-pensants urbanites, who view rural communities as black holes where inbred idiots indulge in un-PC pursuits and observe antiquated mores.
For members of the new, post-1997 establishment, fox-hunting represents everything they resented about the old order. The new elite feel they have finally erected a classless society and buried the pecking order that once constrained their creativity, their productivity and just about every aspiration. Supporters of fox-hunting continue to respect instead a strict hierarchy of beings: master of the hunt (not always a toff), huntsmen, horses, hounds, and foxes last of all. The new establishment frowns upon nostalgia for Britain's past as a secret celebration of imperial arrogance or complicity with colonial wrongs. Their foes instead revisit incidents and figures of an earlier time with the due reverence of the curious filing through a National Trust house. The new establishment cares about money, and measures status by how many people know who you are. The old establishment cares about money, and measures status by how many acres you own.
The old establishment is a world where everyone knows who you are. The new establishment is a world where connections are so infrequent and so skin-deep that you could pretend to be anyone you want to be.
The old establishment still pays lip-service to the value of the nuclear family, God and Country; the new establishment is uneasy with any concept that requires loyalty to anything but oneself or obedience to anything but one's whims.
Can two worlds so different coexist, cheek by jowl? Never. So thank goodness for fox-hunting: otherwise, we'd be embarking on another long and vicious civil war.
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