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also to the archetypal basis for the way we perceive the symbolism of colour. Archetypally red relates to the female, unconscious end of the colour spectrum, while conscious, masculine values are associated with the opposite blue end. Hence the historical association of left-wing political groups, promoting the values of `Mother, with red (Communism, the Red Flag) and that of right-wing groups, representing the values of `Father, with blue (e.g. the British Conservative Party). Where we find red in stories it is often associated with the `Dark Mother' (e.g., Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers, the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts in Carroll's Alice stories). Green at the centre of the spectrum represents the un-differentiated, instinctive balance of masculine and feminine (as in nature). The most consciously, fully differentiated marriage of masculine and feminine attributes unites the two ends of the spectrum in purple: hence the association of this colour with royalty and the Self. White, as a blend of all the colours, is of course associated with light, purity and innocence, and black, the absence of colour, with darkness, ignorance and evil.

4. In recent British political history, this was the pattern which, for instance, accounted for the resignations or disgrace of John Profumo, John Stonehouse, Jeremy Thorpe, Jeffrey Archer, Peter Mandelson, Stephen Byers and many others. Similar examples can be found in political life all over the world.

5. To a much less violent degree, this alternation of illusion and disillusion typifies the pattern of political life even in a peaceful democracy. Almost every successful political leader has a 'shelf fife, whereby initially he or she commands respect and seems to represent the qualities the country needs. But eventually the very qualities which once seemed so admirable show their shadowy underside and come to be viewed as discreditable. The same kind of switch into its opposite applies to the popularity of political parties. A party may successfully hold sway for a long period, but eventually it seems tired, no longer capable of governing effectively or in touch with the social forces which put it in power. This helps to generate a sense of optimism that the party which is its main rival can provide a new government which is quite different: energetic, efficient, honest, more in tune with the country's needs. Its election to power is hailed as marking the start of a new, more hopeful era. For a while the new reforming government may enjoy a Dream Stage, when it seems it can do no wrong. But it gradually moves into a Frustration Stage, when its errors and deficiencies seem to multiply. Finally, as the mood of the country shifts irreversibly against it, it enters a Nightmare Stage where it can do nothing right; and by now, of course, the familiar momentum of optimism is building up around its opponents until the moment when they can sweep into power. Thus does the cycle of illusion and disillusion begin again.

6. So compellingly did the Nazis represent the archetypal image of the `monster' that they would continue to play this role in storytelling of all kinds for decades. Even half a century later, they helped inspire two of Steven Spielberg's most successful films of the 1990s, Saving Private Ryan (1997) and Schindler's List (1993). Loosely adapted from a real-life wartime episode, turned into a novel in the 1980s by Thomas Kenneally, Schindler's List was in plot terms a combination of Rebirth and Thrilling Escape From Death. The hero, Oskar Schindler, was an amoral businessman who, by currying favour with the Nazis in occupied Poland, recruited dispossessed Jews as cheap tabour to help him build up a lucrative manufacturing business. As persecution of the Jews becomes ever more ruthless, Schindler begins to develop `light' qualities, in contrast to the monstrous commandant of a concentration camp from which he draws some of his workforce. At the story's climax, Schindler risks his own life in saving hundreds of Jews from the gas-chambers, by smuggling them to a new factory