Egomaniacs make this a scary world

AM I the only one feeling it? The only one imagining it? Or is anyone else just a little concerned about us possibly being on the cusp of nuclear annihilation?

Back in the eighties I saw a little known film called ‘Threads’. It was set in Sheffield, England and it followed the fictional lives of a pregnant young couple. At first they were the viewer’s only interest as we followed them setting up home, bickering over money and being compromised by in-laws; an ordinary drama about ordinary people with universal resonance.

As the film progressed I began to note that in the background of every scene there was a radio playing. It was never the boom of a popsong or the inane chat of a DJ but invariably a news bulletin. Much like the central characters, I ignored it at first – irrelevant in the face of human drama. However as one scene rolled into another, the radio became louder and the content of its messaging became clearer – the world of our protagonists was at risk and I am not talking about their small Sheffield world but the actual world.

We heard of growing international hostilities, loaded threats and positioning of missiles. The radio was no longer the white noise of a scene but the centre-point. Painting walls, planning nurseries and even making love was suspended every time the radio piped up. The film ended badly. Nuclear war broke out and with it the subsequent inevitable end of the world.

At the age of 12, apart from Dracula, it was the scariest thing I ever saw.

And it stayed with me. You see I feel a little like that fictional couple today. Just like them I have lots going on, plans to be planned and life to expand. Yet in the background there is a radio. Sometimes I ignore it because my world is more important but mostly now I turn it up because this is my world – every last corner of it.

Of course some of the commentary is reassuring. I hear voices telling us not to worry; that Trump is a cowardly lion, that your man in North Korea is just a poser and that China will ultimately take control – whatever that means. But whatever it means, it does sound better than nuclear warfare and the child in me wants to believe them.

So too do I want to believe that, enormous egos notwithstanding, things could never get that far, could they? I hear my naivety but apparently that’s what happens when we get scared – the child takes over. And I am a little scared.

So am I alone in this? Or is anyone else feeling it?

I never did watch a Dracula movie again and ‘Threads’ as a reality show really wouldn’t work for anybody.