New Year fireworks and the politicisation of yet another public event

The constant 1984-style propagandising is polluting our common space

Imagine being in attendance at a wedding reception when the best man, standing to deliver his speech, begins by inviting the assembled guests to join with him in celebrating the diversity of the local community, then pays a tribute to ‘our NHS’, before lecturing everyone on how same-sex marriage is a wonderful thing and finally saying a complementary word or two about immigration. After that, he gets on with the job of talking about the bride and groom.

Even if you agreed with the points he’d made, wouldn’t you consider the chap’s behaviour a little odd? Might you not think to yourself, ‘Erm, hardly the time and place, mate’? Would the better part of the audience not see that this occasion was supposed to be a celebration about something very different – an event worthy of complete attention in its own right – and therefore attempting to debase it with political or moral messaging at all, let alone opinions that that might divide the room, was not exactly appropriate?

And what if you then conveyed your disquiet to the guest seated next to you and that person suggested that your objections made you some kind of hate-filled bigot who obviously disliked gay people and foreigners and the principle of universal healthcare? You’d probably think that person was himself or herself some kind of weird obsessive, right?

It’s a scenario that doesn’t just apply to weddings, of course. There are all sorts of events, in both the public and private realms, which are special enough to merit being respected as unique occasions and without any of us attempting to shoe-horn into them our chosen political causes.

I happen to think the nation’s main New Year’s Eve fireworks display is one of these. It is – or should be – one of those rare moments when we come together in unity, free from political propagandising, and are able to focus on the spirit of the occasion itself. Yet this year’s event, presented by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was an exercise in woke political propaganda. No sooner had Big Ben bonged its bongs and the first firework whizzed and banged to herald the beginning of 2024 than we were treated (if that is the right word) to a series of booming voiceovers – including one from the King – and visual displays celebrating ‘diversity’ and paying homage to the NHS, the Windrush generation and same-sex marriage. There may have been more examples; I think my eyes had rolled out of their sockets by that point.

The deep and officious voice belting out the tribute to the NHS was particularly creepy. It told us, ‘We have to keep showing how much we love our NHS.’ Now, I’m a supporter of the principle of universal healthcare, but even I was disturbed at this thunderous 1984-style public command to the masses that they demonstrate their affection for what is ultimately a state institution.

And that, once again, is the point: one does not have to disagree with the substance of the messaging itself to recognise that political and moral proselytising at an event of this kind are authoritarian, indecent and likely to jar with the expectations, not to mention the views, of millions of one’s fellow citizens. There’s a time and place for seeking to impart your political and moral opinions; this wasn’t it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many who agreed with the messaging accompanying the display told us how wonderful they thought the whole occasion was and that they couldn’t really see any problem. Well, no doubt. Some were also very quick to imply that dissenting voices were motivated by narrow-mindedness (and worse). But imagine for a moment that the counter-position in every case had featured in the display – so we were asked instead to celebrate cultural unity, private healthcare, traditional marriage and strong borders. Some of these are causes to which millions of voters in Britain subscribe, but we all know that to have incorporated them into an event such as the nation’s main New Year’s Eve fireworks display would have provoked the mother of all meltdowns among opponents of them. I’m just not sure why anyone should think the reverse is acceptable.    

None of this was a one-off, of course. On the contrary, it was just the latest example of how this phenomenon – of the political and cultural elites using every conceivable opportunity to make known to us plebs their high-status opinions – has taken hold throughout our society. Few areas of public life are these days untouched by this ceaseless propagandising. From Premier League football to museums, from TV drama to advertising, from corporate PR to educational institutions, we are bombarded with examples of the elites doing their utmost to flaunt their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and their all-round ‘progressive’ credentials.

For some, it has become like a nervous tic. No public intervention can be allowed to pass without having taken the opportunity to further signal their virtue. A while ago, I heard an interview on the radio with a senior representative of rugby league. This person was asked why people should watch the sport. He could have said it was brutal, exciting, fast, skillful or suchlike. But he immediately said it was ‘diverse’. I suspect he barely even thought about his answer; he just knew instinctively that it was the ‘correct’ thing to say.

Meanwhile, the masses see and hear this kind of stuff and think, ‘Here we go again.’ We are, in effect, being subjected to a ubiquitous and intensifying moral lecture. It amounts to the deepening politicisation of our common space. I should stress, by the way, that I am not ‘anti-political’. On the contrary, I have been involved in political activism for most of my adult life and am generally engaged by political debate. But even I’m exasperated by the never-ending political sermons.

After the fireworks event, the right-on writer and broadcaster Bonnie Greer went on social media to praise Sadiq Khan and tell him to ‘Keep pissin ‘em off.’ Her mindset demonstrated the problem. Why would anyone wish to use a celebratory public event as an opportunity to attack political opponents and divide rather than unite?

Could it be that those who endlessly preach the gospel of kindness and inclusivity – and seek to use every public occasion to entrench their ideology – are perhaps not quite as kind as inclusive as they like to make out? Perish the thought.

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I appeared in my regular slot as a panellist on GB News’s Dewbs & Co. last Friday. My fellow panellist was Professor Matthew Goodwin. The episode can be watched here.

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A reminder that you can follow me on X/Twitter: @PaulEmbery

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