Skip to main content
A grim foreshadowing of Britain today?
David Lynch’s classic 1980 film The Elephant Man has some cruel parallels with Britain in 2025, argues STEPHEN ARNELL
David Lynch pictured in 2007 [Public Domain]

A COUNTRY wreathed in pollution, the poor barely surviving, vicious “entertainment” designed to keep the plebs in their place, overwhelmed hospitals and a nation in thrall to a royal family of little obvious use, who continue to blithely exploit their subjects.

And across the pond, a US dominated by greedy, ruthless “robber barons.” To the east, Russia plans expansion, dreaming of ever greater empire.

Britain in 2025?

A gallery of grotesques

Channel Porn?

Victoriana redux

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
round up
Cinema / 10 September 2026
10 September 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK, JAMES WALSH, LEO BOIX and MARIA DUARTE review Just An Illusion, Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Blue Film, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, and Runner

round up
Cinema / 3 September 2026
3 September 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Late Fame, The Death of Robin Hood, Leviticus, and Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass

queer london
Book Review / 13 August 2026
13 August 2026

MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes an engaging and nourishing account of the queer subculture that flourished in London between WWII and partial decriminalisation 

round up
Cinema / 30 July 2026
30 July 2026

ANGUS REID, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Wham! 10 Days in China, Lesvia, Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and The Fires