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Barnhill, Jura. June 2015. (Thanks to the kindness of the Fletcher family).

The two crowns of the egg

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BBC 2's King Lear with Anthony Hopkins and an all-star cast might possibly give as good an insight into the Brexit process as anything offered from other quarters in that it concerns the redistribution of power to those purporting to integrity of purpose.

It is probably possible to see strands supporting each side of the Brexit debate within King Lear.

At minimum Lear's peregrinations between the Houses of Goneril and Regan seem to have all the same clumsiness as the seat of the EU Parliament being transient between Strasbourg and Brussels.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-05-28/meet-the-cast-of-bbc2s-king-lear/

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Barnhill, Jura. June 2015. (Thanks to the kindness of the Fletcher family).

What would Shakespeare have made of...

"Servant 1. Hold your hand, my lord! 
I have serv'd you ever since I was a child; 
But better service have I never done you 
Than now to bid you hold."

King Lear Act III, Scene 7

It seems there is some credibility in looking to Shakespeare to understand current politics.

The wonderful actor Simon Callow reviews Stephen Greenblatt's Shakespeare on Politics in the NY Times and discerns the character of the U.S. President in a number of Shakespeare's characters.

What Would Shakespeare Have Made of Donald Trump?


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/books/review/tyrant-stephen-greenblatt.html

The extract from King Lear above comes from the chilling scene where the servant tries to stay the hand of those horribly injuring Gloucester.

On Wednesday 20th June, it was 'Grieve II' that seemed to speak Shakespeare's lines in the context of UK politics.

The former Attorney General's concluding remarks can be heard from 14.58.00 on the link below:

https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/4a5f543a-8cfe-495f-8942-a23dd4dce1f2

The important (but, it seems, overlooked) point he made prior to this was that Parliamentary Sovereignty would invest the Commons with powers up to a Vote of Confidence and it is likely that this potent avenue will be travelled some time after January 21st 2019.

Chris Bryant's subsequent contribution on the actual nature of the Government's preferred mechanism for Parliamentary input undermines the argument (made by, amongst others, Jacob Rees-Mogg) that a mere Amendment Motion could have significant constitutional impact.

The consequent hollow nature of the Government's re-shaping of Viscount Hailsham's Amendment will, based on the Government's current record of compromise, make Parliamentary conflict very likely in late January or early February 2019.

On Midsummer's Day there is only one Shakespeare play to draw from and perhaps the illusory wall reflects some of the transient, phantom, barriers to discussion that have plagued clarification of the UK's stance to a balanced Brexit position.

"Wall

Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go."
Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Scene I