Love for Queen brings calm as political rancour is suspended

IT has been, by any standards, an extraordinary week. And it seems we have moved, as a nation, from shock and grief at the Queen’s death to something closer to a peace at her passing and a sense of hope at the beginning of the reign of King Charles III.

What has been particularly noticeable, over the eight days since Her Majesty passed away at Balmoral, at the age of 96, is the almost complete absence of rancour in public life.

It is often said you only notice something when its gone. Suffer a persistent noise that goes on and on, for example, and it only becomes apparent that it was there at all, when it stops.

The same can be said at the end of this sorrowful and dramatic week, about the generally bad-tempered and argumentative way public life in Britain is so often conducted.

We had become so used to it that it barely registered for many people, until suddenly, in the aftermath of the death of the Queen, it stopped.

We can exclude social media from this analysis because there is never a time when Twitter, to use the bestknown and most used platform – is free from often appalling comments, which are best ignored.

But across the rest of what might called ‘real life’ the arguments have stopped, the tit-for-tat punch-ups disguised as debates have ceased and the nation seems, by and large, at peace with itself.

This is due, in no small part, to the virtually complete suspension of politics. Newly installed Prime Minister Liz Truss has been forced to put her plans for the future of the country under her premiership on hold.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which never lost a second in trying to find a contrary view to the one put forward by the government in order to try to score points, has all but disappeared, if only temporarily.

After the expressions of condolence and words of admiration for the late Queen, which were – of course – entirely free of political elements, the politicians have pretty much shut up.

Their very silence helps the rest of us to realise that, to a very large extent, politics in Britain today is all about finding a point of conflict with an opponent and then worrying at it ad infinitum. A politician would say it was his or her job to represent constituents and, if in government, run the country or in opposition hold the government to account. Yet to a very large extent it can now be seen, thanks to this enforced period of calm, that to justify their existence politicians feel they must have something or someone to kick against.

Of course healthy discourse is vital in a democracy and holding those in power to account matters. But the rancorous way in which virtually all political debate is conducted these days leaves voters weary and in many cases disengaged. It may be a vain hope, but perhaps during this period of national reflection, where we have been remembering a monarch famous for her even-handed approach to politics, some of those who were formerly able to have an argument in an empty room, will mend their ways.

Save the fights for the big issues. But, in memory of the Queen, let’s try to cool the atmosphere – permanently.