We'll Meet Again: how toxic nostalgia twisted Vera Lynn's pop masterpiece
by Luke Turner from on (#54R2C)
The song's magic lay in its poignancy - the very quality that has led to Britain's parochial obsession with the second world war
From Captain Tom Moore's chart-topping You'll Never Walk Alone to Katherine Jenkins' charity take on Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again - a cover version as grey and sickly as 1940s rationed margarine - 2020 has been a year in which we've been reminded, more than ever, that British culture is unable to escape the long shadow of the second world war.
Related: Vera Lynn: the best of the wartime spirit, not its continuation by other means | Stephen Moss
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