Having returned from two very pleasant days in Red Neck Pennsylvania, I have only just read Alistair Darling’s doom-laden interview with the Guardian about Britain’s dire economic situation. There is disturbing stuff in there, but the most chilling part of all is the photo of the Chancellor that comes with the story:
This is a bizarre picture. I suppose most people thought that Darling was trying to look brooding. But the whole set-up is strangely evocative of something else, or someone else. The sea… the darkness… the tuft of white hair. Yes, this man is doing an impression of Max von Sydow at the start of The Seventh Seal, stranded on a beach and starting a game of chess with Death to ward off his certain doom…*
Watch out for David Cameron in a head-to-toe black robe, and the entire Cabinet dancing across the skyline in silhouette… Oh, you get my gist.
*A Pedant writes: Von Sydow’s hair was blond. But not in black-and-white, it wasn’t.
