The song’s magic lay in its poignancy – the very quality that has led to Britain’s parochial obsession with the second world war

From Captain Tom Moore’s chart-topping You’ll Never Walk Alone to Katherine Jenkins’ charity take on Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again – a cover version as grey and sickly as 1940s rationed margarine – 2020 has been a year in which we’ve been reminded, more than ever, that British culture is unable to escape the long shadow of the second world war.

Related: Vera Lynn: the best of the wartime spirit, not its continuation by other means | Stephen Moss