Uncommon Knowledge - Revisionism

The discussion about opposing Fascist methods with comparably ruthless tactics reminded me of Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff's contemporary arguments in Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

Joe Building

Jonathan Meades has just finished his latest series, Magnetic North; once again, relegated to digital, this will not have reached anywhere near the audience it deserves (even on the excellent BBC Four). The programme asked why we are so drawn to the South and toured the cities of the Hanseatic League in order to find a definitive North, but it was in Meades' handling of the dual Totalitarianisms of Nazism and Stalinism that the documentary excelled. Meades is blunt about the similarities between the two and his contempt for 'Ostalgia' and similar romanticisation of the abhorrent Soviet regime. He has tackled Stalin - and his unique aesthetic sensibilities - before, and you can watch that programme, Joe Building, below: