September 17, 2019 - 12:22pm
New recruits Chuka Umunna and Sam Gyimah were the stars of the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth, mobbed wherever they went for selfies with delegates. It marks an extraordinary up-ending of that party’s philosophy.
It wasn’t very long ago that hatred of Tony Blair, in particular the Iraq War, was an animating instinct of the Liberal Democrat Party. His slickness and ideological lightness was the opposite of the Lib Dem brand – the home of geeks and outsiders, somewhat tortured, but well-meaning and deeply sincere. I remember discovering a strong statistical correlation in 2014 between voting Lib Dem and being a fan of sci-fi fiction: it oddly made sense for people who liked to imagine a very different kind of world.
What Chuka Umunna offered to his new party in his conference address yesterday was proudly unreconstructed Blairism. Multiculturalism at home, multilateralism abroad; the “rules-based liberal world order” with more power to institutions like IMF, the World Bank, the UN and the EU. He championed the “free movement of ideas, people, goods and services” – reinforcing the joining together of open borders with free market economics. Globalism, big business, all under a feel-good “progressive” banner. He even snuck in one of Hillary Clinton’s lines about “tearing down walls, not building them” – a dig at Donald Trump.
It felt distinctly retro. Hesitations about this kind of unalloyed Blairism were already being shown by Gordon Brown as prime minister, and certainly by Ed Miliband in the 2010s. Umunna made no mention of the need to answer the lessons of Brexit – a central concern of most politicians since the EU referendum – or ways to protect communities from untrammelled globalisation. On this evidence, he must have felt out of place in the Labour Party ever since his first year as an MP (2010), when David Miliband lost out to his younger brother.
The reception in the hall was not exactly uproarious, but the crowd of still somewhat eccentric party members seemed pleased – flattered, even – that someone so glamorous was gracing their benches. “What a statesman,” I heard one delegate mutter in the café afterwards, evidently in quite a flutter.
I asked Miranda Green, Lib Dem grandee and FT columnist, whether she’d noticed this pivot to Blair. “I’ve been amazed. People who for all the years I’ve been involved with the Lib Dems thought it was the most deeply uncool thing are actually now turning up at this conference as members, some of whom indeed were very Blairite.”
But it was only when talking to Sam Gyimah afterwards, the newest Lib Dem recruit from the Conservatives, that I realised the full extent of the transformation. More than Chuka Ummuna, questions have been raised in the party about Gyimah’s suitability, given his distinctly Conservative love of low taxes and a small state.
But he doesn’t see a tension. ‘If you had said three years ago that the Conservative Party would be focused on protectionism – because that’s where it’s going – rather than free market economics, none of us would have believed you,” he told me. He thinks of Brexit as a protectionist policy, and says he is appalled by a Conservative Party that would even consider barriers to global free trade. “Even before you get to the point of ‘what do you want the top rate of tax to be,’ you’ve got to believe in markets, the rule of law, an open society – and the Liberal Democrats are the only party that are actually championing those things.”
Which raises an intriguing prospect: could these new Blairite Lib Dems outflank the Tories on the *Right*?
Freddie Sayers is the Editor-in-Chief & CEO of UnHerd. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of YouGov, and founder of PoliticsHome.
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SubscribeMarilyn Monroe died in 1962. It’s a pity she can’t be left to rest in peace. She, and her admirers knew that the image she created of herself was an illusion, and it was, in reality, appreciated as such. The obsession with it by young feminist writers is tiresome, and overused used as a man-bashing technique. They seem to truly believe that men thought Marilyn’s persona was real. When are they going to get the message that Hollywood sirens from 60+ years ago are passe, and leave it alone? Enough is enough.
Much ado about nothing,
Yes men, yes women, yes youth and the not so young — we all can find ourselves seduced, at least occasionally, by gloss & gleam & well upholstered shape. What else is new?
And yes, in that callow time, we do tend to think the cosmetic real. Why not? Having just emerged from the pre-adolescent state of perfect obliviousness in which Sex was simply unrecognized: not only a complete unknown, but an unknown unknown. We didn’t know what we didn’t know…and more, we didn’t care.
Girls were just girls and they did girl things. Meh.
But quickly, come puberty, that changes. We move from Oblivious to Obsessed: shape, look, scent, sound, touch, laugh, and passing glance — it hits us like a Mack Truck and leaves us breathless. Who are they? What do they want? What have they become? Where are they going? Our hearts beat; our teeth grind…a one track mind: why can I think of nothing else?
We begin to measure everything NOT by its intrinsic value, not by its value to me, but rather by the effect or impact we think IT (whatever it may be) might have upon the Other, my Heart’s Desire (which changes as the wind blows).
And who is the Heart’s Desire? Well, she’s not real, that’s for sure. ‘She’ as icon is the commercialized conglomeration of the bevy of constructed beauties which fill our screens: a little bit Sidney, a little bit this week’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, a sprinkling of Scarlett, a dash of Kardashian, et al…..and we think, we suspect, we hope that Debbie, who sits next to us in English Lit and smells delicious is probably pretty much the real world example of same.
Until, that is, the shock of the real hits us.
And then we begin to grow-up a bit.
We all do. (Or so we all might hope)
So men don’t fear Sydney. Boys do. The rest of us appreciate the sublime beauty which is Woman: mature in too many ways to count, in whom age and shape, and taste, and texture, and warmth, and smile, and laugh, and scent and vision, and offer, and touch, and a totality of knowing… becomes a promise made of everything.
And let us make no mistake. That is not Sydney Sweeney, 27 yr. old starlet there so described. That is my wife.
I love Syndey Sweeney! The comments are nothing but losers exercising their keyboard courage finger. And I would bet that the majority are women playing catch-up. But, like I said, they are losers and mean nothing in the wide scheme of things. Go Girl!
I love her, and find her beauty and sex appeal to be super. No woman is perfect, but some are more perfecter than others.
The only question I have about Sydney Sweeney is why on Earth she hasn’t been cast as Power Girl in the DC Universe.
She has all the key attributes for the role, and provided they make full use of them – and a PG rating for the Power Girl movie seems appropriate in all the ways – it would be a guaranteed hit, especially amongst the core audience.
What the article fails to mention is that she is a genuinely terrible actress, so bad that thinking men and women run in terror from her movies. If it wasn’t for Unherd needing copy, there would be nothing to write about.
Oh, another article blaming men for women being held to unreasonable standards of beauty.
Meanwhile, what is the male “standard” that women lust after and compare other men to? Chris Hemsworth, who played the Thunder God Thor in the Marvel movies. No sexism there, right, ladies?
Problem might be that instead of comparing your prospective mate to the other 20 or so available in your tribe of hunter gatherers, you now are comparing to an entire universe of people with professional trainers, hair and makeup artists, plastic surgeons, and PhotoShoppers.
What a load of feminist crap!
I’m getting the distinct impression this girl doesn’t like men.
Who hurt you, Poppy?
I don’t know what to say about all this except that I like actual women, specifically my wife, in both that sort of way and the other, and I am a man so…
It’s a rare pop culture journalist that leaves high school completely behind.
Great article again from Poppy, much to think about
Having thought about this article for a while, I’ve come to the conclusion that the author knows absolutely nothing about men. Nada. Zero. Zilch.
There’s no point in reading one of these, they are all the same. Some very rich chick who has made a fortune selling her sex appeal is yet to be wept over. A victim.
So many of these debates about the fraught relationship between men and women in modern times boil down to the terrifying implications of the sexual revolution. Making ‘consent’ the sole basis for sexual ethics ends up turning our interpersonal relationships into evolutionarily-reductive battles of competing and (apparently) irreconcilable gender priorities. But those gender priorities don’t have to be in competition. There are social structures, norms and expectations that can lead them to cooperate instead.
About 60 years ago, a girlfriend and I discovered ‘the natural’.
After a week of strenuous winter wilderness hiking/camping, when our only contact with water was melted snow for drinking, we had a liaison.
The smell was … novel … : next morning the stench in the sleeping bags and the tent was … very novel.
We had a laugh, figured that nature intended this aroma as normal, christened the incident “trek seks” … and married 2 years later.
I recall reading about an Arab ‘potentate’ (is that still a word?) who, whilst travelling the world, would contact his wife a few days before his return and order her not to wash until he’d got back…
Cosplay Napoleon and Josephine reaches Riyadh?
A woman writing about another woman’s appearance; a subject, it would seem, of enduring fascination for all women.
I’m fascinated by how wonderfully well you write, Poppy Sowerby, and quite agree with your take on the Sydney Sweeney (et al) phenomenon. I’m in my 80th year and am fortunate to have had a long and varied love life that included actresses, models, and many other beauties, all of whom, once the makeup was off, were simply vulnerable human beings with all their flaws and imperfections. Just the same as me. And I did not respect them any the less for that. Those who criticise Ms Sweeney and others like her need to learn to keep their private fantasies to themselves and try a little harder for success with the opposite sex in the real world.
Still simping after all those years.
(apologies for being a bit mean – but it was just too hard to resist)
I seriously doubt it’s men who fear her.
According to IMDB she’s a vintage car enthusiast, so that gets a thumbs up.
Who ?
In my experience as a 65yr old woman (I don’t have any male accoutrements) women are women’s worst enemy. Most women are profoundly competitive but won’t admit it! So are snide, gossipy and destructive. They are complicit and have always been complicit in “keeping women in their place”. Many women who have been successful in their career would probably agree that other women often criticise her. Especially if she’s “focussed” on her work and plan for life. I also see many young women spend a fortune on hair/eyelash/eyebrow/nails/botox etc and yet are obese! Definitely skewed priorities. Sadly women have no balls to grow but i don’t feel sorry for them for being sheep.
She is an irrelevancy when one can log out to the Internet and be confronted with the all-consuming sexuality of Miss Lily Phillips.
Hollywood as a whole is an irrelevancy in the face of the combination of instant access streaming content mixed with free adult entertainment platforms.
Ergo, I don’t know why this article was written. Was it to be polite and 5th generation femininist? If the latter exists then it has strayed into much more transgressive territory.
As someone has already said, what a weird angry essay! all western women seem to do now is whine and blame men. Jog on!
Someone needs to point out to Poppy that the vast, vast majority of men do not post sexist comments on X. Most of us like women and do not expect them to be perfect in any way.
Also, the Marilyn Monroe biographers quoted really just don’t seem to like her much. I’m gonna go re-watch some of her old movies. I think she’s great; very funny, but if it’s ‘acting’ you want, you should try “The Misfits”.
What an utterly dull article. I suggest the author, like the phantom young men she’s tracking, needs to get off the internet for a little while and ‘touch grass’.
A quick quiz.
Have women’s beauty standards gone haywire because:
a. Men spend a few minutes looking at porn, or
b. Women spend hours looking at TikTok and Instagram
Another quick quiz. What’s the record number of comments by a subscriber to Unherd in one article?
And… are you going for the record?
LOL – I’m down with a wretched cold and bored watching old episodes of Madmen.
I was wondering if she’d get to Jonathan Swift’s poem. Guys who get angry at a woman for being human after they “peep . . . behind the scene” are indeed nothing new.
Women who spend a fortune deceiving us about their appearance must not be surprised at our smiles when the deception is exposed.
You mean like the 80-90% of women I see at my gym who wear butt implants and/or shapers? It used to be all about pushing the boobs up and out. It’s a curious shift lower down. I have idly thought about wearing a large groin enhancer to the gym to make a not so subtle point.
To read this article you’d think men were these incredible connoisseurs, unsatisfied with anything but the best, turning their noses up at mere attractiveness. Obsessed with female beauty and perfection. “Oh darling I really can’t, your breasts aren’t exactly the perfect size”.
Sorry to disillusion you ladies, but if you’re in reasonable shape, and your bra and knickers match, he’ll be over the moon.
The bra and the panties are supposed to match?!? Why I didn’t know that?
The average man likes a woman who is healthy, fit, reasonably pretty and a nice person. That’s pretty much it. However, if you don’t want an average man, but want one to show off to your female friends as a symbol of status then things are going to be tougher.
Then stop it! It’s neurotic. In addition to messing with your own bodies you seem to be messing with your own heads. And others. And stop blaming it on men. This is female competitiveness gone mad.
I had to read quite a long way into the article to find out who Ms Sweeney was. It seems she is an actress…
What a weird angry essay.
absolutely!
I haven’t followed this closely – but I thought this was her supposed appeal. I’m not sure it is meant as an insult. Is she not supposed to be the quintessential “girl next door” rather than the glamour puss?
Forgive me for being crass this Thursday morning but I when I read things like this I can’t help but feel like the youngsters of today need to start getting off their phones and start getting into each other’s pants again.
And into each others heads. My god, don’t they talk to each other any more?
Not much is the answer!
I am told by some young people that to just go up to a girl in a pub, or club and start talking is regarded as weird .
You must first make some sort of internet contact.
I didn’t believe it either, but it seems it is often so.
No they do not. Next time you’re in a restaurant or other public place, notice how many obvious couples are spending more time looking at their screens than each other.
You’re right. Shame Boomer & Gen X cynicism dissolved the mating rituals & customs that facilitated that happening at scale in mutually satisfying & (often) socially desirable ways, such as child rearing marriage.
Now it’s a feast for Chad, poor fare for most women, and near famine for average men & below.
I remember the days of occasional tipsy hookups, mutually consented to and mutually enjoyed, that could sometimes lead to actual relationships. Post MeToo, these are now potential sex offenses, at least for heterosexuals.
This was also long before the days when we could trade in our genitalia for the (albeit ersatz) versions of the opposite sexes.’ People also did unusual things like have verbal exchanges over the phone, rather than hiding behind screens and keyboards. It was all in all a far less curated existence.
Small wonder Ms Sweeney and other young women feel the need to douse themselves in peroxide and colored talcum. They’re terrified of being real.
I think they are terrified that will land them in the dock
That’s what the author is saying too
I have to confess I am out of touch with Gen Z culture, but in the past this finding fault with female celebs was mainly a female sport. There were magazines full of it. Is this really now male driven?
No, this is just that other popular female sport, blaming men for their own failings.
Another article blaming men for an unacceptable level of beauty for women. Really?!
Please. Please. Make your mind up. Is it female empowerment to look ‘fabulous’ or is it succumbing to male desires?
And when that’s been decided let us all know. Because I for one am thoroughly bored of being beaten over the head with this garbage.
A quick search on Google confirms that Sydney is quite happy to do bikini advertising and promotional work. So, if you monetise your looks don’t be surprised when people delight in you not looking anything less than perfect. It’s not difficult.
And let’s get real for a second. It won’t be just men who notice and say $#%€ things. Yes, women say $€#%¥ things about other women too. There is such thing as envy.
If there’s some sort of law enforcing all this stuff on women, then let’s repeal it now. If not can you just take some accountability for your own behaviour and stop whining.
Nobody is more critical of women than other women.
But, let’s blame the men, as usual.
p.s. until I read this article I’d never heard of Ms Sweeney. I suspect many other haven’t either.
Same here. Haven’t a clue who she is.
It’s business, is all. The business of succeeding in show business, or the business of getting a – ideally – rich partner, or just the business of halting the march of time. Poppy’s an excellent writer, but she sure does complicate things.
Anyone who’s had more than a few days with any woman knows they’re quite capable of sweat, smell, or grime.
I don’t think men are fast forgiven for potbellies, soiled clothes, or fading deodorant, either – and are judged quite harshly on things like our income, or our height. As it turns out, many of us make less than a million a year, and don’t seem to be capable of growing tall as adults.
I frankly think, also, that those extremely expensive and borderline clinical arrays of lotions, potions, paint, and other accoutrements are marketed to women’s insecurities, not to male desire, and aren’t particularly appealing to us, if they’re at all unconvincing.
I don’t like the idea of getting someone else’s makeup on me; thankfully, Mrs Vanbarner is a natural, wholesome beauty, who neither tans nor covers herself in warpaint. She doesn’t need it.
Agreed! An overblown headline for a conspicuously tangled argument.
They all look the same with the light off
I saw those pap images. She is a fine looking woman to me.
Just had a look. Agree.
I have to say my reaction was not one of fear.
However I think this article is yet another Unherd one where the copywriter has produced a clickbait headline which doesn’t reflect the article.