I vowed to never vote for any party that supported vaxx passports and vaxx mandates during Covid. Right now, that limits my choices in the upcoming elections to the far right and the far left.
Reform aren’t “far right”, merely “right”. Richard Tice is not a fascist, and neither is Nigel Farage.
I may well vote Reform at the next election. If I really thought the party was racist, for example, I wouldn’t dream of doing so.
That’s what bugs me about essays like this. It’s not me the voter who has shifted right. Traditional political parties have all shifted to the left. It’s not even that though; traditional parties have morphed into some kind of amorphous political blob that all share the same fringe, unreasonable political beliefs.
I will never endorse any politician who wants to send my young relatives off to war and death.
Nik Jewell
3 months ago
The next election is going to usher in Technocrat B to replace Technocrat A. It will take another couple of years of disillusionment that the replacement technocracy is a mere continuation of the existing technocracy before populism really kicks off in this country.
Flibberti Gibbet
3 months ago
The forthcoming general election is one that I will follow through the night as results are called.
Does anyone know how late in the electoral cycle a sitting MP can announce a party switch? Presumably a conservative candidate could not switch to the Reform Party two days before polling day if already listed on the ballot?
I cannot find the answer but after posting my question it occurred to me that when Parliament is Dissolved prior a general election all sitting MPs become ex. MPs who no longer hold that title. Apparently MPs have to clear out their office space in Parliament a few days after dissolution.
My restated question is “How late in the 3 week General Election process could the presumptive conservative candidate in a constituency switch to the Reform Party?”.
Robbie K
3 months ago
The Tories are fortunate that there’s no alternative to them in the same political niche.
That’s true, but it’s equally true for Labour. What also usually happens when either party is in trouble is the ideological side of the party threatens to break away and split the party.
Maybe we should welcome a proper shake up, after all, what we have currently is a political wasteland that fails to inspire anyone.
When was the last time you were passionate about voting?
How about a party that understands its members work for the public and not the other way around? While we debate the vagaries of “populism,” what’s lost is the belief of many voters that they are essentially disenfranchised no matter the party they support. Politics seems designed to serve the interests of a small moneyed class instead of populations at large. Attacking speech, farms, and national traditions is not likely to engender widespread support. Neither is the wholesale importation of people who are often hostile to the ways of the host country.
Jonathan Nash
3 months ago
its annoying to read an essay which turns on the rise of “populism” without any attempt to define what the word means.
Citizen Diversity
3 months ago
You can be anything as long as you’re a centrist. If anything, the centrist can hold.
Dick Barrett
3 months ago
The Popcons are the British expression of a neoliberal turn in populism. These Milleiists no longer want the votes of the left behind, but instead are turning back to the barrow boys and Essex men of the 1980s.
I vowed to never vote for any party that supported vaxx passports and vaxx mandates during Covid. Right now, that limits my choices in the upcoming elections to the far right and the far left.
Reform aren’t “far right”, merely “right”. Richard Tice is not a fascist, and neither is Nigel Farage.
I may well vote Reform at the next election. If I really thought the party was racist, for example, I wouldn’t dream of doing so.
That’s what bugs me about essays like this. It’s not me the voter who has shifted right. Traditional political parties have all shifted to the left. It’s not even that though; traditional parties have morphed into some kind of amorphous political blob that all share the same fringe, unreasonable political beliefs.
I will never endorse any politician who wants to send my young relatives off to war and death.
The next election is going to usher in Technocrat B to replace Technocrat A. It will take another couple of years of disillusionment that the replacement technocracy is a mere continuation of the existing technocracy before populism really kicks off in this country.
The forthcoming general election is one that I will follow through the night as results are called.
Does anyone know how late in the electoral cycle a sitting MP can announce a party switch? Presumably a conservative candidate could not switch to the Reform Party two days before polling day if already listed on the ballot?
I cannot find the answer but after posting my question it occurred to me that when Parliament is Dissolved prior a general election all sitting MPs become ex. MPs who no longer hold that title. Apparently MPs have to clear out their office space in Parliament a few days after dissolution.
My restated question is “How late in the 3 week General Election process could the presumptive conservative candidate in a constituency switch to the Reform Party?”.
That’s true, but it’s equally true for Labour. What also usually happens when either party is in trouble is the ideological side of the party threatens to break away and split the party.
Maybe we should welcome a proper shake up, after all, what we have currently is a political wasteland that fails to inspire anyone.
When was the last time you were passionate about voting?
June 2016 for me.
How about a party that understands its members work for the public and not the other way around? While we debate the vagaries of “populism,” what’s lost is the belief of many voters that they are essentially disenfranchised no matter the party they support. Politics seems designed to serve the interests of a small moneyed class instead of populations at large. Attacking speech, farms, and national traditions is not likely to engender widespread support. Neither is the wholesale importation of people who are often hostile to the ways of the host country.
its annoying to read an essay which turns on the rise of “populism” without any attempt to define what the word means.
You can be anything as long as you’re a centrist. If anything, the centrist can hold.
The Popcons are the British expression of a neoliberal turn in populism. These Milleiists no longer want the votes of the left behind, but instead are turning back to the barrow boys and Essex men of the 1980s.