“Insular hobbits”? Englishness, Euroscepticism and the Brexit vote in Jonathan Coe’s Middle England (2018) by Guillaume Clément

“…Among other factors, Coe’s satire draws our attention to contemporary representations of Britishness in media and popular culture, for instance in the London 2012 Olympic games’ opening ceremony, with its quite stereotypical, anglocentric portrayal of national identity. …”
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Ken Livingstone : The Thorn in (New) Labour’s Side by Timothy Whitton

“…Despite this move, Livingstone continued to defend the GLA’s right to develop policies in keeping with the decentralisation of power even if signs of greater cooperation with central government were obvious, especially when London was given the 2012 Olympic Games in July 2005. This new stance did not prevent him from losing the 2008 election when the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson, became mayor of London. …”
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