The directions that nationalism could now take, in one version or the other, are much the same. First there is Europe. While the war was going on in the Falklands, public opinion turned sharply hostile to the Common Market - according to MORI, in favour of leaving by 61 to 39 per cent. Labour is pledged to take Britain out, although the feasibility of that policy is in grave doubt. Mrs Thatcher, having won her war in the South Atlantic, may now turn her attentions to the European front.
Trade policy is another outlet for aroused national sentiment.
In practice, the Government's trade policy has been more aggressive and nationalistic than its official free-trade ideology might suggest. That tendency may harden, especially as Japan has incurred the Prime Minister's wrath for its Falklands vote in the Security Council. A third direction for nationalism lies in asserting Britain's independence. In the Prime Minister's case this might take the form of a more globalist approach to foreign affairs, supported perhaps by a larger navy. Her preference for Reagan's America over the Europe of the EEC will have been reinforced by the Falklands experience, especially as it enabled her to cash her special ideological relationship with the President who instructed a policy of full support.