WHEN THE British are confronted with a national crisis they default to talking about the second world war-and especially 1940, when Britain stood alone against Hitler's Germany. Boris Johnson, who fancies himself as Churchill, has declared that "we must act as in wartime and do everything it takes to support the economy". Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has called on Britons to emulate their grandparents' behaviour during the Blitz. "Despite the pounding every night, the rationing, the loss of life, they pulled together in one gigantic national effort. Today our generation is facing its own test, fighting a very real and new disease." Some smart people think that this is all juvenile jingoism. What is the point of comparing a virus with a political movement? Why bring up Germany's dark past when today it is fighting the same enemy as Britain? In 1940 the English Channel helped to keep the foe at bay. Today it is among us and spreading rapidly. When T.S. Eliot proclaimed in "Little Gidding", written while he was fire-watching during the Blitz, that "history is now and England" he captured Britain's unique role in holding the line against Nazism. The appropriate line today would be "history is now and everywhere".
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