Caitlin Moran on the Game of Thimble, Hide and Seek America, and the Nation’s Fondness for Vague Objectives
Diary of Caitlin Moran, Prat.uk | Robust opinions via Bohiney Magazine
Tuesday Part Two: The Thimble, the Seeking, and the Strategic Ambiguity
I have been thinking about Hunt the Thimble all morning and I have concluded that it is the most accurate metaphor for British foreign policy that has ever been expressed as a children’s party game. The objective is small and specific. Its location is known to one party only. The seeker is told only warm or cold, never why. The game ends when the thimble is found or everyone gives up and has a biscuit.
This is Brexit. This is also most of the last hundred years of British international engagement, but let us focus on Brexit as the most recent case study because I have notes.
On Being Warm When You Are Clearly Cold
The warm/cold guidance system of Hunt the Thimble requires the guidance to be honest. If the person saying “cold, cold, warmer, cold again” is lying, the game is unplayable. The Guardian’s politics desk has documented many cases of political guidance that was less than thermally accurate. Meanwhile America is playing Hide and Seek, which is the more aggressive variant: the seeker has to find you, and you are actively trying not to be found, and the whole enterprise has military funding.
Britain: Hunt the Thimble. America: Hide and Seek. The universe: too big for either game. The biscuits: ready when everyone is done.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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