Sometimes it is a disservice to describe George Orwell’s seminal novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as dystopian.
Some of the novel’s best commentary is on spectres that existed in 1940s society, and continue to exist now. First among these is Newspeak, which was really born in Orwell’s polemical exploration of how the English language is subtly used for political ends years before.
The 1st round Socialist victory in the French presidential elections on Sunday, the collapse of the Right-wing Dutch government on Monday, the probable demise soon of the Right-wing Czech government , and the likely election on 6 May of an anti-Merkel government in Greece point conclusively in one direction. Across Europe the democratic backlash against extreme deflationary policies is now unmistakeably gathering force. Continue reading
