As you approach the town hall in my home town, an insignificant blot on the coast around about the latitude fifty-five degrees north, you can't help but notice that it's architecturally impressive for something of so little importance.  Britannia stares down at you, nymphs reclining at her feet, from above the door. The door itself is flanked by pillars and stone reliefs depicting classical scenes. There is a prominent clock tower and, naturally, a nautically themed wind vane. The town hall, you see, was built at a time when society was proud of civilisation. It was proud of all that it had achieved and all it hoped to achieve; proud of the forward march of democracy and justice and the rule of law. The spirit of the time was to celebrate the progress that had been made and look forward to a century of more and therefore any municipal building was worth the effort of making impressive.

I'm presently reading The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G Farrel and it's notable the way the characters are so proud of progress; even surrounded by hundreds of revolting sepoys baying for their blood they remain attached to the idea that they stand for the betterment and advancement of society. The Victorians were a flawed society by modern standards but they were moving forward, they were improving. They were ingrained with racism and prejudice and yet at the same time paradoxically committed to improving civilisation; while their actions may have been at times misguided and foolish they aimed high.

This is why Winston S. Churchill was a warrior, not due to lust for blood but due to the idea that in civilisation we had something that should be defended to the last drop of crimson. Sadly this pride in civilisation seems to have been surrendered; it is now seen as a burden from which we should be unshackled. What need have we, the pinnacle of humanity, for such things as fairness and progress? The aspirations that marked that age gone by are now frowned upon as society scrambles to find the bottom of the barrel, finding instead that they just keep getting lower and having to scramble some more.

Atop the town hall, this monument to the progress of another age, are nine flagstaffs. Once upon a time they flew the Union but that time seems to have long passed; while a local regiment was in Afghanistan their regimental flag hung proudly from the staff. Today, however, I passed the building and saw, flanking Britannia in two rows of three, flags proudly saying "Vote for Joe". Yes, a building built to hold a mirror to the triumph of progress and civilisation is now reduced to the level of advertising hoarding for a popular television program. I can't help but think that perhaps, somewhere, society has left the tracks a little. (And when I say left the tracks a little I mean burst off the rails, ploughed through a hedge and hit the wall in a blazing wreck.) Is the X-Factor the pinnacle of our society? Is reallity television the crowning achievment of our age? Joe sings well and seems like a nice chap and what not, I wish him well, but perhaps doing more to honour a contestant in a tv talent show than they do to honour our nation, our freedom or our fallen is just a little crazy?

Anyway, we all know Lucie Jones was the one with the gift.