When we British endure a national trauma we try, if possible, to forget about it, and are often helped to do so by the exhaustion of coping with the trauma itself. That is why much of our history is myth: it is not what happened, it is what we can bring ourselves to believe has happened.
The Brown Terror, which ended almost three months ago, was as traumatic as it gets without loss of life. It is no wonder, in its aftermath, that the coalition government that replaced it is having such a long honeymoon. Mr Brown was a global embarrassment; his administration was a disaster (and here's some free advice to the next leader of the Labour Party, whoever he or she may be: admit that it was a disaster, so that people start by taking you seriously); and the damage it did to the wallets, demeanour and psychology of the average voter will not easily be forgiven. It is as if the country, in its post-operative relief at having had the Terror removed, doesn't want politics any more – which is just as well, because that is more or less what the Coalition is providing.
