The British do not do seven day mourning the way many Venezuelans are for Hugo Chavez, neither – as a rule – do we flock to the roads to see the bodies of our politicians being driven through the streets. With the exception of Jeremy Bentham we do not – mercifully – put our departed on display. We tend to leave that to communists.
Just as Chavez’s death reminds us that we like to keep our grief low-key, it is fair to say that we are incredibly bad at most public events, with people grumbling, criticising, and proudly declaring that they are going away on holiday just to avoid the thing. We are useless at celebrating St George’s day, and have never fully converted to Halloween. There is too much whingeing about Valentine’s, and really only April Fool’s day gets widespread support because that is a day purposefully designed just for insincerity, of which we cannot get enough.
Much as we don’t like to parade our emotions publicly, so we reject the forced campaigning of a special day.
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