In 1976, the punk phenomenon swept through the streets of Britain. They were noisy, they looked different and their sweary, anarchistic language shocked the grown-ups. A loud and visible “up yours” to the prevailing culture that left the post-war generation shocked and baffled.
Half a century later and everything has turned on its head. The crushing illiberalism of the prevailing liberal culture does not know what to make of the swathes of well-dressed, polite and nicely spoken young people walking through the streets of Walsingham this weekend. They shun the accepted norms of coarseness and vulgarity, of non-binary fashion, of vacuous, fast-paced entertainment. Instead, an antithesis, as they process in a measured, dignified and solemn column, singing the ancient words that declare a new generation’s allegiance to Jesus Christ – Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit, Rex Christe Redemptor.
