In the cult German film “Good bye, Lenin!”, a devoutly communist mother suffers a heart attack in the autumn of 1989 and falls into a coma. When she wakes up, she finds that the Berlin Wall has fallen, Germany is on the path to reunification, and communism has crumbled. In an effort to protect his mother from the shock of the new capitalist reality, her son Alexander goes to great lengths to create fake news bulletins showing Berliners rushing east, not west, and maintaining the illusion of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) in her bedroom while the outside world embraces capitalism with Ikea furniture, Volkswagens, and Coca-Cola.
This theme of denial of circumstances is reflected in British politics as well. Recently, on May 3rd, Rishi Sunak, a Conservative Party member, celebrated their only victory in Teesside out of 11 mayoral races in local elections. Despite the Tory prime minister trailing Labour by 20 points in national polls, he boldly declared that the Labour Party must win in the region in order to succeed in a general election. However, the reality is that the Conservatives actually suffered a swing against them, which would lead to them losing every seat in a key region known as the “red wall” – traditionally Labour strongholds that the party was proud to have won in the 2019 general election.