The republic of entertainment

I note a suggestive article in March's edition of Prospect by Toby Mundy, in which he posits a competition between two cultural sensibilities in Britain in the last 25 years. The matter at stake is nothing less than 'what really matters in the world, and how it should be reported', and the church is seen as part of the 'enlightenment state' (as defined against the 'republic of entertainment') in which 'reason triumphs over emotion, experts matter, elected politicians are legitimate, facts are the enemy of cynicism, means are often as important as ends....' It ends with the suggestion that the recession might just see a new 'tide of seriousness.'