Literature Network » Aldous Huxley

THE KING OF DUPLICITY; Like millions, Max Hastings welcomed New Labour's victory eight years ago. Today, he argues that Tony Blair has been corrupted by power in a way unmatched by any premier of modern times. So what does this say about a nation set

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From: The Daily Mail (London, England)
Date: 20050430
Author:

Byline: MAX HASTINGS

SATURDAY ESSAY

ALDOUS HUXLEY'S Brave New World, written in 1932, is now an unfashionable novel. But this election campaign puts it into mind. In Huxley's nightmare universe of the future, human discontent is kept at bay by doses of the drug 'soma', which lulls all cares.

Huxley's robotically-conditioned characters talked of going on 'soma holidays', narcotic escapes from reality.

Back in our own times, much of the British electorate seem astonishingly willing to continue their long political 'soma holiday' through next Thursday.

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