The British Parliamentary Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has expressed serious doubts about the London government’s plan for the Brexit Festival. Bloomberg. Board members are of the opinion that tens of millions of pounds have been spent on something they would not say anything about. The event was called Unboxed: UK creativity and they want to hold it sometime this year.
The aim of the festival is to present the creative ideas and initiatives that resulted in Britain’s exit from the European Union. However, the authors of the commission’s bold, cynical report found that the event had no clear purpose, a sure recipe for failure and the irresponsible spending of public money.
The idea for a Brexit festival emerged in 2018 under former Prime Minister Theresa May. At the time it was called the UK Festival * 2022. The Boris Johnson government changed this to the above name, which sounds rather strange in Hungarian. The government has so far spent £120 million (£53 billion, just over the cost of building the Kőröshegy Valley Bridge) on the event, which organizers hope will remember two earlier events that paid tribute to the glory of the British genius, the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the 1951 Spirit of Britain Festival.
Big ambition, small vision
At the same time, MEPs argue that grand ambition does not really align with the poor vision of what and how such an exhibition should be. Thus, the event is shrouded in mystery. Meanwhile, as time goes on, doubts grow that the festival will have an outcome that will return public money spent on it. Since the original idea for Festival UK * 2022 / Unboxed: Creativity in the UK was born in 2018, it remains unclear what is meant by satire in the press and public opinion in general.
Despite the ambitious participation plans outlined in general, details of how the organizers would like to implement them lack concern a few months before the event. Ideas that would involve foreigners in festival events with separate tourist trips are not particularly developed.
See if it comes
Sweeps across government are promising their clients that a Brexit festival can be as spectacular as the platinum jubilee of the Queen’s recent 70th anniversary, or as the Commonwealth Games competitions for British Commonwealth athletes can be in Birmingham. Directors say the festival could bring Brits together like the Queen’s Diamond Anniversary and the 2012 Summer Olympics.
However, members of the Parliamentary Committee believe this festival should be about the future of the UK to talkBut they had no idea about it. The event should signal that Britons are bound together by a common culture at home and abroad, which they also saw no sign of in the run-up to the Brexit fest.
