Events surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and the current state of the US housing market may give us a glimpse of the reality behind “The Suburban Myth” of our present time. The modern suburban myth is a complex “archetype” comprised of a number of “fictions” which include the prevalent fantasies that :
- Middle class professional people (“hard-working families” !) never do wrong
- House prices move relentless upwards and never go down
Now it may well be that Madeleine’s parents are completely innocent, apart, possibly, from administering their child with a sedative whilst they went out for dinner. However, should the truth turn out to be different, I don’t see why we should have to be so very shocked. We are, after all, the nation which gave the world Dr Harold Shipman.
With regard to the US housing market, I was, nevertheless, amazed to hear a BBC Radio 4 presenter say yesterday that, before now, prices there had never gone down. What nonsense ! Like many Britons (who experienced the phenomenon known as “negative equity” until 2000 or thereabouts), many in the US know all about a “fall” in prices.
The fact is that under the “New Labour” Governments of Blair and Brown the complex “Suburban Myth” is ever under contruction, much assisted for most of the time by the mainstream British media, as well as the likes of the house-building industry. The job of every intelligent citizen is to “de-construct” this when, as now, it is over-developed.
The Witch of Worcester 