Head Strong | National changes, terror threats; hmm

By Michael Smerconish

July 22, 2007

 

I've written of my optimism that, given yet another attempt by radical Islam to kill innocent Brits, England was moving in a Churchillian direction. Having just gone to see for myself, I'm afraid my hope was premature.

 

There is some good news from across the pond. The beer is colder and less bitter, and the pubs stay open late.

 

On the other hand, terrorism and a weak dollar are crippling tourism. Aside from service personnel, one meets few English people in London. Eastern Europeans predominate. At the famous jeweler Longmire on New Bond Street, I asked what type of customers were showing interest in a particular item in the display case: cuff links composed of diamond heads in the shape of a revolver.

 

"The Russians love them," the salesman told me. The poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko hasn't deterred them. They are everywhere, no doubt fueled by oil money.

 

The isle that withstood assault from the Third Reich has nevertheless succumbed to smoking Nazis. Lighting up has been banned virtually everywhere. To smoke in one's hotel room is to run the risk of being billed 50 British pounds for "specialist cleaning. . . . to remove tobacco odours."

 

There's also been a change over at No. 10 Downing Street. U.S. ally Tony Blair has been replaced by Gordon Brown. The latter has been prime minister for about three weeks, but he is already mending fences with the Bush administration. Seems that cabinet minister Douglas Alexander told the Council on Foreign Relations that the United Kingdom must "form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world." That was seen as a slight directed toward the United States.

 

That alone must be causing Churchill to spin in his grave at St. Martin's Church, Bladon, near his birthplace at Blenheim.

 

Speaking of the great man, last Friday the Sun tabloid reported that Sir Winston was being expelled from the required curriculum for secondary-school children. According to the Sun, Churchill's name was removed from a list of figures schoolchildren must learn about. He has been replaced by more "relevant" issues such as climate change and the dangers of drug or alcohol abuse. Churchill's grandson, Tory member of parliament Nicholas Soames, was quoted as calling the move "total madness."

 

As the Brits might say, indeed.

 

I hope the eggheads who run the U.K. education system will take a lesson from the art aficionados at the esteemed auction house Sotheby's.

 

The same day Churchill was axed from British school requirements, one of his paintings sold - how ironic - for a world record.

 

Winston Churchill was a man in full: statesman, soldier, author - and painter, credited with about 500 works of oil on canvas. On July 15, Landscape With Sheep, a painting of his country estate in Kent, Chartwell, fetched 1 million pounds (a little more than 2 million American dollars) after active bidding by several interested parties. The painting was once a gift from Churchill to Henry Luce, the American publisher of Time magazine.

 

Yes, the painting is a beauty, and Churchill a gifted artist, but no doubt part of its appeal is the historical significance of its creator, the man of the 20th century.

 

Just last December, his View of Tinherir raised eyebrows when it garnered 612,800 pounds (about $1.2 million). The painting depicted an oasis in North Africa and was once a gift to U.S. Gen. George Marshall.

 

What the educational bureaucrats initially failed to grasp was appreciated by the market. Bidders resoundingly reminded the Brits of the value of one of their great leaders. At least in the art world, people's appreciation for Churchill is growing.

 

Ed Balls, since June the U.K. secretary of state for children, schools and families, pointed out that the new curriculum makes teaching the Second World War compulsory, so Churchill will still be in the classroom.

 

"Churchill is quite simply the greatest leader in our country's history and, alongside her majesty the queen, the greatest Briton of the 20th century. As schools minister, I guarantee British parents that every child will be learning about the life and leadership of Churchill in their history lessons," he told the Sun.

 

I flew home thinking that as the U.K. struggles to confront a continuing terrorist threat, it finds itself with a national identity crisis, and is abandoning a number of great traditions. I wonder whether there is causal connection between changing the way things have been in the U.K., and Britain's present difficulties in defending against terrorism.

Michael Smerconish's column appears on Thursdays in the Daily News and on Sundays in Currents. Michael can be heard from 5:30 to 9 a.m. weekdays on "The Big Talker," WPHT-AM (1210). Contact him at http://www.mastalk.com.