Books and paintings have been of constant interest
for this blog – even music and poems have made an appearance. But I can’t
remember a film ever figuring in these columns. It’s not surprising that the
first film to make it into the blog is one ……..about Brexit.
Brexit;the
uncivil war stars Benedict Cumberbatch (of The Imitation Game fame) and focuses not
on the politicians (who figured in such documentaries as Inside
Europe: 10 Years of Turmoil – whose three episodes can be seen
here) – but on the machinations of the two organisations which ran the
respective “in-out” campaigns. Romanian TV showed the film last night - and I was able to download it during the night thanks to zamunda
And
what we
see is a vivid example of “outsiders” versus “insiders” – with Cumberbatch
playing a not dissimilar role from that in his portrayal in The
Imitation Game of the brilliant (if autistic) mathematician Alan Turing
who cracked the Enigma code in the second world war. A lot of people were
involved in the Enigma process but Turing is the hero of the film – if subsequently
one who is disgraced and commits suicide.
A lot of people were also involved in the UK referendum but the film similarly focuses on the individual brought in in 2015 to head up the Vote Leave campaign - Dominic Cummings (who had been a controversial political adviser to Michael Gove from 2007-2014). As the film makes clear, it was he who made the decision to focus the message on a few points - mainly "cost" and "taking back control" to the exclusion even of immigration as an issue - although this did not stop Farage from concentrating on that......
But the heart of the film deals with the sort of targeting of voters which has only recently become possible in ways few of us understand – although we know it’s something to do with these algorithms
A lot of people were also involved in the UK referendum but the film similarly focuses on the individual brought in in 2015 to head up the Vote Leave campaign - Dominic Cummings (who had been a controversial political adviser to Michael Gove from 2007-2014). As the film makes clear, it was he who made the decision to focus the message on a few points - mainly "cost" and "taking back control" to the exclusion even of immigration as an issue - although this did not stop Farage from concentrating on that......
But the heart of the film deals with the sort of targeting of voters which has only recently become possible in ways few of us understand – although we know it’s something to do with these algorithms
Just
a few months before the referendum , Cummings gave a typically truculent
performance before the Treasury Select Committee to defend the figures his
campaign had publicised as the
cost of British membership of the European union.
This
appearance coincided with the
Cambridge Analytica scandal and, later in 2018, Cummings was invited but refused
to appear before the Culture Select Committee to discuss, as the
investigation’s ToR put it,
the spread of false, misleading, and persuasive content, and the ways in which malign players, whether automated or human, or both together, distort what is true in order to create influence, to intimidate, to make money, or to influence political elections
Disinformation
and Fake News – interim report was the result of the Select Committee’s
interesting deliberations….….raising
the sort of questions we are beginning to ask about how the commercial world is
using social media and algorithms - and trying to give preliminary answers in
terms citizens can understand. They are the same issues which Shoshana Zuboff’s brilliant new
book Surveillance
Capitalism deals with.
The
Select Committee’s Final
Report was issued just three weeks ago – although the only reason I know is
because I bothered to check the Select
Committee’s website. OK it’s 100 pages but – like all such reports – it’s
written in exceptionally clear language.
If we have any concern for democracy,
this is a subject we need to understand
Cummings
may have graduated originally in History (a First from Oxford University) but, to
judge from his blog, it appears to be mathematics and grand systems theory
which seems to have gripped him more recently. Indeed, in 2013, the Guardian
newspaper actually went so far as to give
us access to a 237-page “essay” he had made available on his website and to
summarise it here.
Shades
of Alan Turing indeed!
The Brexit film is actually based
on 2 books one of which – “Unleashing Demons”
– was written (initially as a diary) by the character played by Rory Bremner
but who was, in real life, David Cameron’s Communications Director Craig Oliver.
I found a copy this week (for 1 euro) in the great second-hand bookshop in University
Square and would have to say that it falls into the category of “quickly forgettable
books you pick up at airports” – basically who said and did what when to whom….
The second book - All-out War – the full
story of Brexit - which I read last year
is a veritable “War and Peace” – at least in its size (700 pages). One of the
consequences of its size, however, is that I cannot remember a single thing
about the content!
Other
resources
The most
thoughtful is this one from a fascinating blog about anthropology and
empire written by a Canadian and called Zero
Anthropolgy.
One of the key players in the Brexit
drama (one of the 2 businessmen who like the politicians are caricatured in the
film) has written a good article trying to redress his role here
Brexit – the movie (2016) a propaganda documentary which was viewed by almost 2 million
people in the 6 week period before the referendum
Brexit – a very British coup (2016) was a balanced BBC documentary taking us to Referendum
Day
Brexitannia
(2017) is a far more thoughtful film of an almost sociological depth based on
about 200 in-depth interviews the length and breadth of the country and
including commentaries. It’s
reviewed here by Zero Anthropology
"Inside Europe - 10 years of turmoil" (2019) the BBC documentary referred to in the opening
A selection from the Cummings blog -
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