What does BBC coverage of VE Day anniversary tell us about UK today?

The Herald Scotland

06-05-2025

Anna Foster, meanwhile, was up in Coventry Cathedral to recall the Coventry Blitz, a 12-hour bombardment, the longest in the UK in World War Two. She had the better of it, I think. She was largely inside for a start. Rajan mentioned it was a bit parky down Buck House.
Inevitably, in the hours before the official commemorations kicked off, there were a lot of memories shared by veterans and the families of veterans. Much was made of the fact that this may well be the last significant anniversary of VE Day in which there are still veterans of the conflict around to take part. The war - the pre-eminent event in British culture over the last eight decades - is about to slip into the shadow of the past; not for much longer a remembered event. Instead, it's shifting to a historical one.
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How will that change things going forward? Because such public celebrations are never wholly about the past. They're narratives to tell a story about how we see ourselves now.
As historian Dr Tessa Dunlop and comedian Al Murray - also described, rather curiously, as a 'lifelong World War Two enthusiast' - pointed out to Naga Munchetty over on 5 Live, in the decades after the war there were no VE Day celebrations.
'They didn't exist,' Dunlop pointed out.
'The war was over,' Murray added.
It wasn't until the 1980s that they became a thing again. 'We were looking to prove that we fought the right war,' Dunlop suggested of the revival. 'It was 40 years on. And we've taken that commemorative vibe and we're run forward with it.'
Boy, have we. Don't mention the war? These days we never shut up about it.
The temptation, I guess, is to suggest all this Second World War cosplay is some kind of post-Brexity assertion of the UK's uniqueness. A reminder that our plucky little island stood alone against the Nazi threat (overlooking the fact that even in 1940 there was the small matter of the Commonwealth behind us).
But I wonder if it is more a reflection that the UK really doesn't know what it is these days. As Scotland continues to debate the pros and cons of independence and with America an unreliable friend in this age of Trump, could it be that the past is the place we feel safest?
Then again, as Al Murray also pointed out to Munchetty, it's not as if the fight against fascism can be safely consigned to history.
Al Murray (Image: Ash Mills)
'With global events - what's happening in the rest of the world, in Ukraine for instance - the things that were being fought for aren't that far off.'
There's a cheery thought and possibly why I turned over to Radio 2 in the afternoon for Mark Goodier's Most Played: the Billion Streamers.
A follow-up to a couple of programmes the DJ helmed over Easter weekend, this was a simple idea for a broadcast. Everything played had to have racked up a billion plays (and counting) on streamers. There were a few surprise inclusions and omissions. Who knew that there's only one U2 song that so far qualifies, With or Without You? Or that Billy Joel's two tunes in the billion bracket are Uptown Girl (perhaps no real surprise) and Piano Man. Not We Didn't Start the Fire. Oh, and did you know that Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas was streamed 400,000 times at the beginning of May?
Anyway, this was also a reminder that Goodier, the current presenter of Pick of the Pops, is a reliable radio voice; an unflashy, steady presence well suited to Radio 2. In an era in which the station remains obsessed with platforming comedians (Ellie Taylor being the latest, sitting in for Sara Cox; she was decent enough if a little subdued), it's good to be reminded that there is still room for radio veterans like Goodier and Tony Blackburn.
And if you want a pop fact to drop at the pub this weekend? Well, in February Taylor Swift racked up 100 billion streams. Now, as it's estimated that a billion streams is worth roughly about $1m, it's safe to say, Taylor can probably afford to stand a few rounds if she ever happens to drop in to your local.
Listen Out For: Pretender Prince, Radio 4, Friday, May 16, 2.15pm
Jack Lowden (Image: PA)
Jack Lowden, no less, is the narrator of this drama documentary covering the rise and fall of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Lorne Macdonald plays the Prince.