#Brexit and Lord of the Flies. A primer from a recovering English teacher.
1. It starts off as quite a good analogy. Jack thinks everything will be ok "because we're British, and the British are the best at everything."
1. It starts off as quite a good analogy. Jack thinks everything will be ok "because we're British, and the British are the best at everything."
2. Democracy is loudly proclaimed. The conch gives everyone a voice, guarantees the will of the people.
3. But from the start there are leadership issues. Jack proclaims he should be leader because "he can sing C#", much as Boris claims leadership ability on the back of cod Latin and amusing journalism.
4. Ralph (Theresa May), who is elected enthusiastically but struggles to think coherently, desperately tries to keep the various factions together and is fatally weakened almost from the start.
5. Roger (Farage) throws stones at the weaker boys.
6. Piggy (Ken Clarke) is all over the details, but is roundly ignored.
7. Simon (@mrjamesob) is a prophet toiling in the darkness. Dismissed as a virtue-signaling crank.
8. Piggy and Ralph's attempts at getting a signal to the outside world and getting rescued are stymied by the fact that all the other boys just want to hunt and kill pigs, who clearly represent immigrants and other outsiders. Despite, ironically, being born on the island.
9. Carnage ensues. The island burns down.
10. In the end the boys are saved by a smart naval officer who takes them off the ravaged island. But here we need to be careful.
11. The officer represents an adult society that has destroyed the world through nuclear war. At the end he looks at "the trim cruiser in the distance". The adults are just as bad as the children. Worse, in fact.
12. And he is astonished that a "pack of British boys" didn't put up a better show. He has the same illusions of superiority as Jack.
