If you go into an English cathedral, you are almost certain to observe two things:
- There are lots of large monuments to military personnel who died in Britain’s many overseas wars. You would expect World War I monuments to be particularly prominent this year, and they are, but you will also find monuments pertaining to the Crimean, Indian, and Boer Wars. The number of locals who died in these realtively minor conflicts is just staggering. That was the cost of imperialism.
- You will be accosted by nice old people soliciting donations for the maintenance of the cathedral and offering to provide information about the history of the place. There are two reasons for that. First, the government apparently has stopped providing funds for cathedral maintenance, which is hideously expensive, so they have little choice. Second, these people genuinely love their cathedral. Their enthusiasm can be genuinely touching.
It occurred to me while we were away that these are the people who voted for Brexit. They feel their roots in British history and want to celebrate them. They don’t view their imperial past as a form of racism to be disdained. I can appreciate their point of view.
The cathedral, in other words, is the antithesis of a new London skyscraper built in the millennial neoclassical style that would fit just as well in India or China. They represent the two sides of the Brexit debate.