I have to live in a county where more than half of those who voted on Thursday voted for a far-right or fascist candidate:
I don't enjoy that fact.
I don't much like the others, but at least as yet, they don't qualify for these descriptions.
I did not expect to ever live in a country like this, where openly racist people seek power by blatantly discriminating against migrants, the least well off, women, the elderly and the sick, children and civil servants, teachers, health care workers and others on whom we all depend, whilst denying the privileges of wealth that they actively promote, in the course of which they deny climate change.
What the f**k happened?
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You say this of Reform:
“I did not expect to ever live in a country like this, where openly racist people seek power by blatantly discriminating against migrants, the least well off, women, the elderly and the sick, whilst denying the privileges of wealth that they actively promote, in the course of which they deny climate change.”
Alas, this is very nearly/mostly a fit for our current, misguided and clueless, government.
Tacking to the Right as they have, to outflank Reform (never noticing that there’s a precipice to the Right of Reform) they’ve learned nothing from Liz Kendall’s thrashing in the 2015 Labour Leadership poll, where her manifesto of tacking to the Right earned her just 4 5%, where Corbyn’s of appealing to the Social Democratic views of the bulk of non-votets saw him garner 59% plus of the vote.
Listening to the non-voters/the NOTA demographic and tacking to the Social Democratic part of the spectrum to the Left of the Overton window is still the way simultaneously to increase turnout and also defeat the populist Right.
What happened? The wealth pump was turned on to suck money out of the hands of the many into the few. The richest and most powerful people in the country decided they didn’t like not having everything. The people voting for the far right are probably not politically aligned, they just feel ignored and desperate.
I think it likely that many are desperate as you say. But also either somehow blind to the venom or hoping it isn’t for them. Understanding why people turn towards the divisive and destructive, and offering an inclusive and sustainable alternative are both vital. I don’t know how we talk to people about this, but we must. It is deeply worrying.
This is the topic of an excellent book by Martin Wolf (the chief economics commentator at the Financial Times): “The crisis of democratic capitalism”. In it, Wolf talks about how representative democracy and the capitalist economic system depend on each other: a functioning democracy needs the capitalist economy to generate wealth to distribute, and the economy needs strong regulation by the democracy in order to stay on track, and not devolve into oligarchy.
This interdependency is failing, says Wolf, because a large and growing percentage of the population is feeling disenfranchised and powerless, forgotten by the politicians who ought to represent them, while we’ve let the rich rewrite the rules, weakening the mechanisms that should have been keeping capitalism working for all of us.
The book came out a bit over two years ago, and Wolf said, back then, that we were at the brink, and changes would have to be put in place very quickly to save us. He was still optimistic, though.
Agreed Richard we, in the UK are in a truly awful state.
I honestly think you can trace the disgusting rightwards drift and rot of the fourth estate back to 1969/1970 when one Rupert Murdoch bought both the News of the World and the Sun.
It has been a relentless push to the right since then.
His papers and journalists have lied, disinformed and smeared peolple, politicians, Trades Union leaders and any progressive ideas or campaigns.
His hatred is never satiated.
That the Labour Party and the rest of the MSM allowed him to contiuosly retchet our politics to the right will be forever to their shame.
IMHO That, I think is where the rot started aided and abetted in no small part by a right wing PMC within the Labour Party itself.
Starmer could have reopened the Levenson enquiry. he could follow Gordon Brown in demanding the police investigate the deletion of millions of email at Murdoch’s media empire. and an undoubtedly corrupt Brexit referendum. but no, we apparently must never hold the rich and poweful to account.
I haven’t even started on the BBC and the rest of the broadcast media and the pathetic OFCOM, but they have all played their part in this tragic state of affairs.
Sick to my guts of them all.
Fascist is your definition. Personally i do t think it’s fascist to stop illegal immigrants entering into the country by the boat load. It seems many others agree.
Go on then, tell mme what you are going to do to stop them? Is it sinking their boats, or machine gunning them on the beaches that you propose?
And you do know, don’t you, that there is in international law no such thing as an illegal immigrant? So, would yoy break that law? Why?
No one in mainstream political discourse is holding them to account – that’s what has happened.
Spoke to a plasterer today about reform, I think he was surprised when I said the stuff about all rubbish about immigrants spending all of our money was plain lies.
They have spun a lazy but successful narrative aimed at people who don’t usually think too hard and can easily be swayed to their base prejudices.
It’s the same for working class people in the West Midlands that I know. They know things are unfair, that life is getting harder and more expensive, and are latching on to someone who is telling them who to blame.
Labour seems to be saying there is no money left, and Farage and the tories are telling them why. It might not be true, but I’m not sure that matters if there’s no meaningful discussion of alternatives.
Onwards to the march of the racist, ableist, lazy thinking local government. Hopefully this gives a couple of years to notice what useless morons a lot of the reform candidates actually are.
Less than you think. The British are not, and never have been what they doggedly claim to be, aspire to be thought, or even think they are. There is a gulf between the manicured self-image, and the shabbier execution. It is not all dissimulation. We do not know ourselves; at least as well as we think we do.
It’s very simple. Since 1979, the people who have just voted that way were told they don’t matter.
Their unions were busted, their jobs were outsourced to somewhere cheaper, their wages and salaries stagnated, everything became harder for them, so that things could be easier for the 1%, and even easier for the 0.1%.
Ordinary people became no more than an income stream for global rentiers.
They were told ‘There is no alternative’ and when it looked like they might actually have backed an alternative, that alternative was systematically and cynically destroyed. Then replaced with a clone of what they already had.
Ordinary people like this can see through Trump in the US. They aren’t stupid. They know Farage is trying to take them in. They’re just sick of being ignored. Their lives are already shit, they are willing to put up with them being more shit as long as it also hurts the people who’ve got them here.
It’s not too late. All that’s needed (as you remind us often) is someone to stand up say “We see you, we will listen to you, we will do more than that – we will change the system so you can actually participate in the decision making, because we trust you to be decent human beings at heart.”, and we could start to reverse the slide.
Who’s willing to do that? Nobody I can see in mainstream politics. At least not in this country. Burkina Faso maybe, Mexico maybe, Rojava maybe. But the 1% are busy trying to destroy those alternatives as fast as they can.
Much to agree with
So far 10 Reform councillors in Cambridgeshire. Home ownership one of the lowest here compared to UKs miserable 65% it’s 80% in India.
Nigel Farage did not begin today with saying how he was going to fix the housing crisis, not in his interests to do this,
he began today by attacking council staff, working from home. There are not enough desks per person in council offices, they sold the offices.
Your question is a good one (to help us understand and how to respond/progress) as well as an expression of frustration.
Adam Curtis’ “The Mayfair Set” is probably a good punt at where the takeover of the state started – they transferred power to banks from the state. Keith Joseph showed how to individualise … Took power from collective action. All this bankrolled by welfare subsidy c/o oil revenue. Privatisation followed. Populist handouts disguising the reality we see today! Along the way the media were captured too. There is little traction for alternative narratives than the neoliberal one. Also along the way so-called left representatives (unions, Labour party) were captured.
And this seems to be where we are!
(I’m sure I’ve missed a few … But it covers key bases)
Comiserations. It is very depressing. My hope is that some local power for Reform will highlight their shortcomings to their supporters before next general election. But we need inclusive and progressive candidates offering practical alternatives to the destructive, divisive and dogmatic right wing and far-right. I hope that some of the support for the farrago lot is due to desperation and self-delusion, and would wane if credible new candidates espousing green new deal, care for individuals, community and environment, who showed willing to co-operate with like-minded candidates across party lines, were to speak up.
Even worse here, it seems we have just been given a Reform Mayor.
I am not sure what the implications are, it isn’t clear quite what will be controlled by the new Mayor rather than the continuing Councils. And to be fair to Reform, their candidate had much the highest public profile being a former Olympic boxer, the others had name recognition only to those who follow local politics assiduously.
Let’s break it down shall we, unpick it a little? This is a quick once over so hang on, it’s bit fast………………..
Amongst us are the rich. But they are not just rich.
These people are natural monopolists which means that they think of themselves as exceptional in some way and deserving of more, if not everything. These people are very concerned about having more of a particular thing called money. And with being above or on top of everyone else.
They did not like the more democratised wealth created by Attlee and the Liberals and even the poor laws or even Roosevelt in the U.S. – they saw this as a waste of money because if the money is not coming to them to grow like corn it must be wasted! All they could see was wasted opportunities to make money out of everything.
From the day it was created (and badly named) the welfare state was chipped away at first and then accelerated under the Tories under all sorts of strange, concocted pseudo intellectual reasoning from the American Deep South which believes in slavery, exploitation and ossified social structures to realise their reality. This link is real. The separatist confederates in the southern states issued vouchers to white folks to attend private schools so that they precious cracker kids did not have to share school rooms with Afro-Americans, an idea the Tories nicked when giving out vouchers for state kids to attend private schools in the UK (to undermine the state system of course you understand).
And so the rich grew, feeding off the the common wealth – utilities, housing, tax systems that act more like reward schemes, education, the railways, highways – all of this became opportunities for rentier extraction.
The rich nearly came unstuck in 2008 because they got too greedy. It was a major test for them and even they underestimated just how much they had won the argument with their fake snake oil ‘economics’. They held their breath…………But the politicians did not let them down. They were there for them and bailed them out. And imperceptibly, a new narrative emerged that it was the state banks that were bankrupt – not the private ones. The private sector can never be wrong. Ever.
And then we had austerity. But the rich told the politicians to get a nice big pay rise to salve their consciences, and also made it easier to fund politics so politicians could make their ‘sacrifice’ worth it and then as the politicos withdrew support for public services, the rich would invest their money in them instead. That way, the governments would get their bail out money back!! Yeah! Well some of it. OK, a bit.
But really, that in a nutshell is how we got here.
We got here because of theft – the continuous, legalised, politician approved monopolisation of your national sovereign currency which a few want all for themselves. These people are anti-social, depraved, sick, socially unhygienic and too costly to put up with.
It is time they were put in their place and learnt their place. It is time their shackles were turned upon them.
Thanks
I sympathise. I live in Kent where we are now totally dominated by Reform (although I am fortunate to live in an area where we have the two Labour councillors and some Lib Dems in the outer region). I heard Starmer this morning gibbering on with some bollocks (no doubt scripted by the idiot McSweeney) about needing to go faster and further with delivering “the change”. It got me shouting at the radio “Oh Change the fucking record you moron” ! As I have no hope that he will do so I intend to make life as miserable for our Reform councillors by bombarding them with complaints about the potholes, bins etc. As we also have to put up with the roads chaos when Operation Brock kicks in whenever there is a Brexit related problem I intend to pursue them over that. It’s time they were held to account for what they have done. They wanted power, now let them now take responsibility.
Since posting I have just seen Pat McFadden on Channel Four news. What a lifeless clueless clown! If they have changed the record Labour is now playing the funeral march. We are truly stuffed.
It was a pathetic interview purveying all the sense of failure that hangs over the party.
This is hate speech surely. Complaints that were not made under the last administration will now be lodged under the new one because the commenter doesn’t like the outcome of the election.
For sure, if the problems with bins or potholes got worse then complaining is legitimate but that’s not the point being suggested here, it’s complaining when you would not have complained about the same thing before.
And it completely ignores the two main functions of local government based on fiscal metrics.
Please delete the comment or risk falling foul of the OSA, I thank you.
Very politely, holding councillors to account is exactly what democracy is about. Did you not know that? Or is intimdation your style now? Hoiw very fascist of you.
@Emma Thornton
But Emma, didn’t Reform campaign on the slogan that “Reform will FIX IT”? Including potholes. Isn’t that now their job? To make Lincolnshire a heaven on earth? (For ALL its citizens)
(I chose my source carefully – The Daily Star, the most reliable paper in the UK…
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/nigel-farage-leaves-internet-baffled-34956461 )
Surely the new councillors will WANT to know about problems, so they can “fix them” quickly after years of local Tory failure? They must be raring to go, to see how their shiny Reform dogwhistles can repair roads, provide social care and get those bins emptied using Great British workers?. It’s called local government and we intend to monitor them every inch of their goose-stepping way. Its only fair.
Or is that promise now withdrawn once Reform actually control a council or mayoralty? Lets face it, it didn’t do much for Jimmy Savile.
Sorry Emma, Reform have got power now, so they have to get on with it and WE get to hold them to account. Enjoy!
I suspect if a large portion of the 67% of people who did not vote actually had a decent party with a hope of winning to vote for, more of them would turn out.
Imagine a new party made up of Labour-leaning people whom the Labour party has let down. Existing MPs could defect to it. People who want the kind of change they hoped Labour would deliver would have a ‘Labour’ party to vote for.
England needs a new party. Fast. If Farage could win by being more right-wing than the Conservatives, there is no reason why a new party that is left wing of the Labour Party couldn’t emerge as winners. 67% of the vote is a LOT of people. They need somebody to vote for.
The very last thing UK needs is another left-leaning party, when both the Greens and the Lib-Dems already exist, have imperfect but definitely left of Labour policies, and good grass-roots infrastructure.
Stop dreaming about perfection and get out there supporting the adequate answers that are already on offer.
The LibDems are neoliberal.
The Greens still have a hopelessly naive economic policy and are obsessed with identity politucs that alienates people.
Of the two, I can vote LibDem without enthusiasm
I find it very hard to vote Green: I cannot share core values wth them. Being green is not enough.
Neither really represenst me.
Of course we need Labour to move left or a new left of centre party.
Last time I voted LD “to keep the Tories out”, was 2010. I got the Coalition, George Osborne and austerity. They reneged on their PR promise in exchange for a plastic bag tax. Two years later I was running a foodbank listening to constant Coalition lies about our foodbank clients.
The fundamental LD beliefs are neoliberal, there is no hope for the poor in their Orange Book. They make progressive noises in seats where they fighting Labour, but they dont mean it. Some of their local election material can be quite dogwhistle racist if they think it will win them votes.
I tried voting, and joining and campaigning Labour in 2017 having moved to a safe Labour deprived ward, but the party I voted for and was part of then, has been systematically dismantled – a process I watched and experienced from the inside.
I’m not sure how many elections I have left, but my vote is no longer available to “keep ***** out”. It’s only available for a candidate who supports fundamental macro-economic change and planetary preservation (with protection for those most affected by net zero). I am pragmatic on secondary issues.
I believe I am part of a majority but I can’t find any party offering those 2 things or even appearing to care about them.
I’m on the verge of spoiling my vote (I would never not vote).
What would wake me up would be a Labour rebellion. Now would be a good time. But it has to be a REAL one, not a PR exercise or mutterings from Starmer that he “gets it”. He doesn’t. He’s lying. Ideally, a mass resignation from the PLP by left leaning MPs, and a new grouping in parliament, as a start of a new movement to dismantle neoliberal economics the way they dismantled Corbyn.
As for Ed Davey, I’m sure there is a future for him in the circus or as a stunt man.
Rats. They are very social creatures and live quite happily provided there is a reasonable level of stasis. But if things change (far less food/resources) then these social creatures get nasty, real quick. As with rats, so with humans. Post WW2 in the UK there was a brief re-distribution of resources etc but by the mid-1970s things were starting to go in reverse & have done so ever since. Bolt that into “loss of Empire” you have what you have. Deform is a reaction, is all. Just the latest manifestation of the BNP etc. “Oh it’s all so unfair – those darkies taking our jobs” etc etc, coupled to a political class functionally incapable (by design i.e. the education system) of ever getting a grip.
Commiserations Richard.
Not sure how a mayor of this combined authority can or will be held to account. Given he has to collaborate with numerous councils and ‘other interests’ there could be much scope for ducking and diving.
””The Combined Authority has £328m capital programme and £333m revenue budget over the Mayoral term period, 2025-2029, to deliver its priorities, including in transport, skills, business support and growth.””
Looks as though transport may the only area he can be held clearly to account
Agreed
Almost as as worrying is the 35% turnout figure.
These local elections were a win for the apathetic non-voters.
I was a LibDem candidate in Northumberland. In one of the divisions in my town of Ashington, turnout was 25% and Reform just beat incumbent Labour (49 yrs a Cllr) so only 1 in 8 of those eligible to vote actually voted for winning Reform UK candidate!
This is no way to run a country!
Progressive parties need to unite and explain how important it is for sensible ordinary people to reclaim “civic power” or we will all slide into an awful populist nightmare.
Agreed.
I agree. Though i did write to both labour and lib dems expressing this concern (locally and nationally). I also said that I expected local and national labour to be objecting to their leadership … Or I would withhold my vote. Reply came there none……
But a neoliberal tory in the labour party or the lib dems is still a noeliberal tory …… If a council election helps them to learn ……
Thank goodness our right to protest was restored today because we are very likely to need it in the next few years, and not just to spur action on climate change!
https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/liberty-defeats-government-appeal-as-court-rules-anti-protest-laws-are-unlawful/
Thank you. Appreciated.
In brief – unfettered globalisation and governmental inability / disinclination to reign in corporations and establish progressive tax regimes.
Judging it by the outcomes I am beginning to question systems of democracy whereby the ignorant, the irrational, the biased and the manipulated get to vote for the unqualified, the incompetent, the self serving and the manipulative.
John Boodle
I’m 78 and until recently have been a Labour Party member all my life. For the first time I voted Green at the recent election but Reform got elected. I just cannot believe how incredibly stupid this Labour Government has been. It has totally failed to understand the electorate it relies upon. The first moves with the Winter Fuel Allowance then benefits cuts and also rejection of the WASPI case have scarred them for the remainder of this Parliament. Whatever they do in the future will not matter. The most sad thing about the recent election is that many hard working and good socialist councillors will lose their jobs, as will many good new Labour MPs at the next General Election. They need to organise now and get rid of Starmer and Co asap.
Agreed
Richard David Hames posted this on Facebook, very relevant to this discussion I think. I would link to it but I can’t see how to. His substack is here: https://richarddavidhames.substack.com/
“I have been closely monitoring political and commercial maneuverings in countries like the United States and the UK over a number of years. Putting psychopaths aside for a moment, it’s obvious that we’re increasingly governed by the whims of those whose psychological moorings have been severed by the very wealth that grants them such unparalleled power. I call this phenomenon “Plutocratic Psychosis”. It represents an insidious threat to our collective well-being.
Consider the evidence: tech moguls obsessed with colonising space while Earth burns; billionaires with bizarre progeny fixations; the ultra-wealthy demanding servants discard plates after a single use or clean their toilets following each flush. These aren’t just eccentricities; they’re symptoms of unhinged minds, detached from reality, drifting in a rarified atmosphere where normal constraints cease to exist.
The mechanisms in play are not mysterious. When unlimited resources eliminate the word “no” from one’s vocabulary, when armies of assistants orchestrate elaborate ceremonies to accommodate one’s neuroses, when every whim can be indulged without consequence—the psychological guardrails that keep most humans tethered to a shared reality simply don’t apply.
Research confirms what observations imply: extreme wealth correlates to diminished empathy, enhanced narcissism, and a distorted perception of others’ capacities and needs. The “power paradox” documented by social psychologists reveals how the acquisition of power—financial or otherwise—erodes the very social intelligence that might have enabled its ethical deployment.
What makes this much more than an academic curiosity is the unparalleled capacity such psychologically compromised individuals possess to reshape society according to their warped dreams. Unlike delusional patients in a psychiatric ward who believe they should redesign global governance, billionaires with similar delusions can actually implement their vision, regardless of its merit or potential damage.
We face, in essence, a tyranny of the unstable. Our technologies, economies, and increasingly our political systems bend to accommodate the fevered dreams of those least equipped to lead us—individuals whose material circumstances have cultivated psychological profiles that should disqualify them from positions of influence rather than guarantee them.
The cultural mythology surrounding wealth aggravates this crisis. We’ve constructed elaborate narratives equating wealth to wisdom, vision, and moral authority. This equation transforms psychological liabilities into a perceived asset, casting the most detached among us as visionaries rather than casualties of a system that rewards oversized egos and pathological acquisition.
You might object that not all wealthy individuals exhibit these tendencies—pointing to philanthropic endeavours as evidence of a more balanced perspective. Yet that misses the point. The issue isn’t whether occasional acts of generosity emerge from the billionaire class; it’s that no individual—psychologically compromised or otherwise—should wield such disproportionate influence over our collective destiny.
You might protest that correlation doesn’t imply causation—perhaps certain personality types simply attract wealth rather than being corrupted by it. Research implies both dynamics operate simultaneously: predispositions toward certain behaviours may facilitate wealth accumulation, but wealth itself then amplifies and distorts these tendencies, creating feedback loops of increasing detachment.
A response of some kind is called for. Structurally, we require robust wealth redistribution mechanisms—progressive taxation, inheritance reforms, and anti-monopoly enforcement—to help dilute concentrated power. Culturally, we must challenge the hero-worship of billionaires and normalise critique of wealth’s psychological impacts. And yes, we should possibly advocate for mental health resources for the ultra-wealthy themselves, not merely as individual intervention but as a public safeguard.
Throughout history, we’ve learned repeatedly that unchecked power corrupts—whether manifested through monarchies, dictatorships, or oligarchies. The modern billionaire class represents merely the latest iteration of this timeless pattern, cloaked in the contemporary garb of disruption.
What makes our present moment uniquely perilous is the convergence of unprecedented wealth with technologies of planetary-scale impact. When individuals whose psyches have been bent by extreme privilege gain the capacity to reshape climate systems, genetic codes, or global information flows, the stakes transcend political preference or economic ideology—they become existential.
The first step toward meaningful change is precisely what we’ve begun here: naming the phenomenon. “Plutocratic Psychosis” or “Oligarchic Neurosis” provides linguistic leverage to discuss patterns otherwise obscured by individualised narratives of eccentric genius. By naming the condition, we begin to see the systemic rather than anecdotal nature of the predicament.
Our challenge is not just political but philosophical—requiring us to reexamine fundamental assumptions about wealth, authority, and mental health. Particularly in a society that claims to value democracy, how and when did we consent to be ruled by the emotionally compromised? In a society that prioritises mental health, how have we failed to recognize the pathologies endemic to extreme wealth?
The billionaire class will not voluntarily relinquish power nor acknowledge their compromised perspective. That responsibility falls to us—the still-grounded majority—to reclaim our collective agency before the fantasies of the wealthy-yet-unwell become irreversibly encoded in our societies, technologies, and ecosystems.
This is not class warfare; it’s psychological self-defense. Our futures are increasingly shaped by minds that have lost touch with the very realities most humans inhabit. Until we address this basic misalignment, we remain captive to a system that elevates the least qualified to positions of greatest influence. The time has come to speak plainly: extreme wealth corrupts the mind, and corrupted minds should not be guiding human destiny.”
Fantastic Essay Nigel – I’ve always believed that un-regulated capitalism empowers the insane at the expense of the sane. It’s basically Nuts!!
I unfortunately live in Staffordshire, now 80% Reform. My local area elected a man from 20 miles away, who did not know anything about the area including exactly where it was (no canvassing, just two mailshots covering everyone in Staffs) nor that councillors had casework etc. He beat the town council leader who in the last decade has revived the area immensely. We shall see what will transpire.
Hold them to account
That is all that can be done
Like a previous poster, I live in Kent. I still can’t quite believe the result. Shocked and horrified!
[…] noted this result in the mayoral election where I live, […]
I agree with those here more worried about the turnout than the result. Less than a third of the electorate voted, and less than a quarter of that third voted Reform. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if 8% of England’s population have always been inclined to the extreme right – this is a country, after all, in which some, perhaps most of the Establishment – including nobility and royalty – were pretty happy with Mussolini, Franco, Dollfuss, even Hitler until he got too big for his boots.
But my guess is that even that 8% voting Reform are not really on the extreme right. Many of them, probably, haven’t thought or heard much about policies – they just know that a vote for the old duopoly doesn’t change much in their lives, and they know they want things to change, so they’re easily sucked in by the media circus around Farage.
Ar least the 8% who voted for Reform voted, unlike the passives. And I think we should take them seriously, not feel they are “deplorables”. Listen to them, discuss, everywhere you find them — pub, work, sports sometimes. (playing in a team together yes, when not playing; at a match likely to annoy). If we want something different we, the people on the ground, need to make some efforts in that direction.
The passives chose not to vote
That’s nor passive
There was no one to vote for
And no, I will not tolerate racists. Please don’t ask me to do so, and I didn’t think you can vote Reform and not be racist.
If we want to see change, we have to speak to our families and neighbours.
I dont accept the conclusion that voting for Reform makes someone racist. I think that’s both untrue and unwise.
I’d have no social interaction if I refused to speak to Reform voters. You really want me to do that Richard? Give up omnibus conversations?
Huge numbers of people vote without serious thought about policies. WE are the weird political nerds who study the manifestos and compile our archives.
I’m going to copy Mandelson, never let a day go by without in some small way trying to undermine Fa***e and his party, but also befriend and get the respect of his voters.
If I can’t do that, there’s no point me reading your blog. I already KNOW how to vote or not vote. What I need is information to share with my neighbours, and you do a great job of providing it.
KUTGW!
This is exactly the time we DO engage with people who have been misled and deceived by Reform, while being ignored and demonised by the intellectual left.
Give the Reform politicians absolute hell, but treat Reform voters as people you can listen to and persuade. Maybe we need to wait a bit to see the failure fallout, but we must NOT repeat Labour/Democrat mistake of demonising the voters – we want their support, and if our policies, arguments and ATTITUDES are credible, we might just get it.
My point is I have never met a Reform voter who has not said “I am not racist, but….” And then is.
I am not saying don’t speak to them if you wish. I am much more interested in how we get the 70% to vote who don’t, and talking to them. The chance of a gain is much higher.
We all gave to choose how to use our time.
I met my MP last Saturday while has campaigning for the local labour country and borough councillors. I challenged him on Labours policies.
Apparently, the 2 child limit will stay, child poverty will be abated by providing more money in schools for breakfast clubs.
The immigrants have to be stopped. They’re going to be processed in Europe.
The changes in PIP won’t affect most people and will catch the 10% of claimants that would be in work if they lived in Europe. Our parents suffered stress and still worked, why can’t the present generation?
We can’t increase taxes on the high paid because the Laffer Curve shows it won’t increase revenue.
When I raised equalising the tax rates on earned and unearned income he equated that to a Flat Rate tax.
Deficit spending isn’t possible as it reduces growth. I assume that Reinhart and Rogoff’s discredited economics that guided Osborne still holds sway with Labour.
I asked why the government paid interest on the commercial CBRAs, he didn’t know they did. I emailed him on this a couple of weeks ago.
My MP was freshly elected in July. I’ve emailed him several times to suggest that copying Reform will only get Reform elected, but he’s a true believer in Starmer and Reeves, so there is no hope!
Thanks for trying
And the Laffer curve shows nothing of the sort…
I think he was quoting his M.P. although it was not clear enough.
To be clear, the Laffer Curve was raised by my MP as reason why raising taxes on the higher paid won’t do any good. I disagreed. I think her said he studied economics at Durham.
That is why he thinks the Laffer curve is relevant.
Acdemic studies suggest the phenomenon is not seen until rate are much higher than we have at present, especially on income from capital.
I’m not sure you will like my answer to your question, but it’s simple nobody on the left is doing the heavy lifting to create a credible alternative. There are a great many people like yourself who are theorising alternative strategies to taxation, economics, social care etc. etc. But all that seems to be happening is that you are all gaining academic kudos and in some cases monetary advantage out of the frustrations of many people who feel and believe as you do. But in reality all you seem to be doing is preaching to the converted.
One interesting point in your post is that you start off being concerned about your County and end up despairing for your Country. I think that betrays what I believe, and that is that the demographic problem you highlighted in your county is a fair representation of the national situation. The key point in the statistics you presented was the turnout that indicated only 32.9% thought there was anything or anybody worth voting for. So if you consider the electorate in your county they may be categorised as follows:
Those motivated by Conservative or far Right Candidates – 17.04%
Those motivated by Leftist or Socialist Candidates – 15.89%
Those who were not impressed by any of the Candidates – 67.06%
I’m pretty sure when the numbers get crunched the National Statistics won’t be too different from those above.
I think I may represent a great many of the voters who are part of the 67.06% above. Although there was a reform candidate expressing the issues that concern us locally, I didn’t feel there was a party I could vote for that would represent my views on a wider scale and actually get a meaningful share of the vote.
I apologise for my apparent negativity, but there is a positive side to this. The 67% of your electorate who were not persuaded by arguments from the right could possibly be persuaded to vote for a credible argument presented by the Left and that is what I believe is generally lacking in our country today.
Once they have licked their wounds from yesterday’s electoral drubbing I believe the Labour back – benches represent the best practical means of achieving positive change in our country today. So I ask again what are the practical measures that can be taken to organise a movement that might cause the Labour party to dump Reeves and re-program or replace Starmer.
Last time I asked the question of why all of the academics and theorists banging on about alternative economics on YouTube were not organising some kind of movement to achieve the goals you propose you said it was not your job. Do you still feel that way after seeing these results? And if it’s not your Job then who is going to do it, and could you please advise where should they start?
Simple.
You are the person to do it.
Now, what are you going to do?
I am doing my bit.
I really wish I knew where to go from here. I struggle to understand why there is not a co-ordinated campaign to stir up opposition within the labour back benches while there is still time to make a difference before the results we saw yesterday are repeated in a General Election.
Here’s another scary thought. If this opportunity to drive neoliberalism out of the Labour Party is not taken soon, the failure of Reform to achieve anything in Local Government and another 3 years of Trumps antics in America might lead to UK voters pulling back from a similar disaster here under Reform at the next general election. As a consequence we could get another 5 years of Reeves / Starmer’s version of neoliberalism – by default.
I can’t help feeling something has to happen within the Labour party soon. Any clues about how to start that ball rolling would be gratefully appreciated.
I am loving all these comments in the depressing aftermath of the recent local elections. The “just over half” who voted in Farage’s company is the same just over half who voted, Brexit, it seems to me. They’ve been being proved wrong over the last 9 years, and what better balm for bruised egos than another electoral success?
For those who enjoy a little study of the subject, here’s some reading:
Polish academic Agnieszka Golec de Zavala and some of her colleagues wrote an excellent analysis of something called “collective narcissism”. Narcissists are people who are outwardly bullish and entitled, but inwardly profoundly insecure. This translates to groups, as well, for example, that 52% of Brits who are still smarting over loss of Empire.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721420917703
There’s also an excellent work by Karen Stenner called “The Authoritarian Dynamic”, in which she argues that there will be a sleeper cell of people (up to around a third of any given human population) who are by nature resistant to change, and feel deeply threatened by difference. These people struggle wth complexity and long for time when “oneness and sameness” were givens.
In both works, the connection to fascism is pretty easy to see.
Despair not, good people.
I agree that a significant proportion of the English/British citizenry has been and is fascistish/fascist.
However, might it be that a higher proportion of us are ill educated and so gullible when it comes to presentations of political certainty which deceive by using forms of fundamentalism?
This form of fundamentalism thrives as an escapist reaction to the cognitive challenge of the contrasting directions of political dogma and reality for regular people.
Political/Socio-economic fundamentalism provides emotionally satisfying but mistaken and harmful, answers to complex but essential governance problems and opportunities. It flourishes through a form of widespread, possibly main stream encouraged, schizophrenia which imagines that the U. K. could return to its previous c.W. W. 2 power and status if only we treat the vulnerable and essential infrastructures harshly enough. [ From A. G. Broadhurst]
P. S. Might it be relevant that current state education presents knowledge as fixed, permanent and not to be questioned and neither subject to lateral thinking nor critical thinking.
Richard, your blog has definitely got people going on this issue!
Book out called The Death of the Left by Winlow and Hall.
Describes how the left have since Blair marginalised themselves by incorporating neoliberalism rather than search for more socially acceptable solutions.
Worth a read.
I voted Liberal in my local elections. I genuinely didn’t know what else to do. My wife was unsure who to vote for and so didn’t.
I think lots of ordinary folk were in this position.
My understanding of the word ‘facsist’ is very different to the one used in this article. Although not a Reform voter it is not difficult to understand why this party is attracting support from so many people of different political persuasions. Neither New Labour or the Conservavites show any interest in controlling immigration of young men moving here for economic reasons resulting in an increased population and more stain on local services.
I use the word correctly, I think.
And it is very hard to understand why this party is winning support unless racism is taken into account.
You are banned for that reason.
Problem.
The claims in your final sentence were totally unsubstantiated (as well as being untrue). They are also misleading in the extreme.
And you disagreed with the description of the word fascism without offering your own definition. (Perhaps if brown shirts, jodphurs, deathshead insignia and toothbrush moustaches don’t feature, then it’s not fascism?)
Given the subject matter -immigration – and the power of disinformation to have sometimes (often) lethal consequences (which happens very frquently), then it counts as irresponsible inflammatory rhetoric. People who indulge in it have blood on their hands. By which I mean the blood spilled when people are stabbed, attacked with cars, assaulted or have their accommodation set on fire by racist mobs influenced by irresponsible rhetoric. That happens in my city and its horrible.
If you also KNOW your claim to be unsubstantiated or know it to be disinformation, then it becomes deliberate dogwhistle racism.
Immigration CAN be discussed, but not that way. Not without destructive consequences. Of course you already know this.
Listening to the Reform chair on BBC yesterday was interesting. Given a fairly open platform his main focus was how to use any, unrelated legal means at the disposal of local government eg. planning laws, to oppose the actions of national government and launch an attack on any form of accommodation for immigrants with a goal of driving them into tents. Is this not a bit like declaring a non-emergency and using tariffs to unilaterally implement economic policy. The result in both cases will be chaos and a massive pay-day for the lawyers who will end up arguing these issues out in court.
He did promise to fix pot holes and empty the bins, but he had very little to say about Reform’s main challenges which will be delivering good quality care and education facilities in their new areas of authority.
He also failed to mention where he was going to pitch these tents. I suspect most of the reform supporters will be thinking NIMBY on that one.
These people (Reform) are basically Libertarians. They want to rip up the rule book to ensure no opposition to their profiteering. They know very well that this would not sell well with the public, so they couch it in anti-immigrant rhetoric, which does sell well. They’re perfectly happy for the general populace to vent their spleen on immigrants and others, up to and including violence and murder, if it keeps them from becoming restive at the lack of economic improvement. As to fixing the potholes – remember the money these same people promised for the NHS post-Brexit?
There is a video coming on this….