Thank you for this very well considered post about Reform. I agree that we seem to be ignored by institutions, and political parties that appear to further the aims of the wealthy groups and to impose punitive costs on everyone else. My own idea is to vote *against* any party that does not consider the man in the street.
Why Reform is allowed to function as a limited liability company and its so-called politicians spin tales so far from any truth that they make themselves into parodies of politicians is a very great wonder.
Excellent Richard. I look forward to the next essays. One issue that seems to be neglected I think is the Government's attempts to diminish the opportunities for legitimate protest and, in particular, using unpopular and ineffective legislation. In addition to being offensive it cuts off an important source of feedback and denies a safety valve by which people can let off steam. Good work Richard.
Yes—I’ve been shocked to see this happening in the U.K. (I lived in the U.S. from 1965 to 2022, married to an American). I’ve always thought people demonstrating against injustice, inequality, war, etc., should be allowed to demonstrate unless they are causing damage to property or are violent and violently expressing hatred.
If I wasn’t 85 years old and able to get out more, I might even attend one myself (as I believe a couple of my nieces may be doing). I spend a fair amount of time seething with anger at what’s been done to the U.K. by the Thatcherites—selling off our utilities and social housing — and the hedge funds and private-equity firms that have looted and destroyed so much of our industry.
Well said, Richard, a good article. Ordinary people are scared, fed up with being skint and have lost faith in the essential conservatism of the centrist parties.
There cannot be political stability without economic stability, and there cannot be economic stability without the widespread availability of good houses at decent cost. Conservatives created this problem and Labour have let it fester.
I grew up on a council estate and I am 100% certain that Reform's policies will not help any working class people. However, I am also 100% certain that the language, the tone, the vocabulary, the attitude too many Labour politicians have towards the working class is profoundly annoying. My mother-in-law worked for many years serving meals to Labour politicians in Oldham - she said they were the rudest people she has ever met. My cousin used to work with Lee Anderson - he says that a lot of Anderson's stories of coal mines are bollocks but... But... If Anderson was stood next to you in the pub, he would talk to you on a level and quite possibly buy you a pint.
Labour has lost its soul, that's why working class people vote Reform. They want to feel valued and have given up on Labour valuing them.
"Sixth, it is also vital to understand that Reform did not create the conditions from which it benefits. Austerity, privatisation, financialisation, regional inequality, declining public services and economic insecurity long predate Reform."
It might not have "created" them, but it's certainly gamed them and exploited them. Farage was one of the faces of Brexit. As we now know that it has cost the UK billions in lost revenues, why won't Starmer and co spend a little of their time clearly explaining this? All of the conditions you mention have come about as a result of decisions made by politicians. I'd like to see s YouTube channel that presents these elements in a more populist way, connecting the decisions and the results in a way that ordinary people can understand. One of the most difficult things to deal with in all this is the pitiful ability to communicate of our leaders. They are a level of abysmal that is remarkable. In a bad sense.
I think you are. But you are doing it with a certain amount of preconditions. Mostly you expect a base level of understanding, which many people lack. Most don't have the faintest idea of how the economy works. They assume things are done too them by a bunch of people who seem to simply want to torture them. Most of the lies about our economy are not from politicians (I'm certainly not saying they don't contribute a lot) but from the corporate class. Why did bread increase in price? The answer is often simply "because we could increase the price" – in other words we had an excuse to hang it on. This is what will happen with the closing of the strait of hormuz. Businesses that have not been affected by this will equally claim that their input prices have risen. One of the funniest things I've heard (if you like black humor) was the price of Marmite being increased despite the fact it is made (and largely eaten) in Britain, because the people who make it have their cash flow denominated in Euros. When we left the EU the value of the pound dropped against the euro... In other words what I'm saying is they don't need a lesson in economics they need an explanation for why the world is (apologies for the bad language) so fucked up. TBH as a retired business analysis guy I'm quite tempted to do it myself out of bloody mindedness. Having worked for quite a lot of corporations and their governmental ilk I have seen some truly awesomely stupid things done. Possibly explaining it would make me feel better and give some people the understanding of why businesses are so bloody awful.
The most important point in here is the sixth one and I think it deserves to be the first. Reform is a symptom, and the disease has a specific economic identity: the exhaustion of the post-1991 globalisation model. That model delivered cheap goods and asset appreciation but concentrated gains in metropolitan centres and financial assets while hollowing out the economic base of everywhere else. The political map of populism in every developed democracy is essentially the map of places where globalisation's costs exceeded its benefits for the median voter.
Thats why country-specific explanations for Reform always feel incomplete. The same structural dynamics, wage stagnation, institutional trust collapse, immigration as proxy for insecurity, emotionally direct narratives beating technocratic ones, are producing functionally identical movements in every country that ran the same economic model. Trump, Le Pen, AfD, Meloni, Wilders, Reform. When the same phenomenon appears everywhere simultaneously the cause has to be structural rather than local. Until the underlying economic architecture changes, sophisticated condemnation of the symptom will keep failing because youre treating the rash while the infection runs underneath it.
Thank you for this clear analysis. It is uncanny how similar it is to what is happening here in New Zealand. Economic hardship, unemployment, unaffordable housing, lack of trust in a Govt captured by corporate lobbyists, involving the roll back of many regulations to protect our beloved environment, and attacks across the board on indigenous Maori human rights and constitutional agreements between Maori and the Crown signed in the 1800's. And a rise in popularity of a right wing, anti-Maori and anti-immigration party who are adept at reading the discontent and lack of trust and pandering to it.
Indeed, Peters is absolutely 'doing a Farage' right now. There is some talk by pundits of a Grand Coalition' between Labour and National after the election, which presumably is more to do with castrating the minor parties than any real commonality between the two. Given the economic paralysis this must lead to, I have no doubt this will accelerate the rise of extremism, by which I mean the far right, given that, unlike the UK, in NZ the Greens have no no 'proper' Left cachet upon which to build a movement.
Reform is highly effective at operating within that environment “
I realised too late( for my liking) that their ‘clicbait’ enrages us and our replies of righteous indignation exponentially increases their online presence . Silly me, fell for it!
This is not just an intelligent article but an emotionally intelligent one which is an increasingly rare example of the path reflecting the destination.
The Reform vote is high, and it’s important to consider why that is. This type of article goes right to the heart of that; instead of simply dismissing voters, it dives into their rationale - which leads to a greater, more productive discussion about how Reform can be effectively challenged. A great article and more of this is sorely needed. A great read.
As in any conflict, attack should only be the last resort.
Communication, dialogue and understanding of the issues causing any tension or dispute should be initiated swiftly with mutual respect for all involved; together with the realisation that any situation can be observed from multiple viewpoints, and that nobody is perfect, nor is there always one path for all.
People's genuine anxieties and fears should not be dismissed as being trivial, but should be listened to, and whenever 'lessons need to be learned' - the learning should actually happen, actions put in place to change to behaviours/structures/procedures. Otherwise if left to fester, or constantly being ignored, then feelings will turn to frustration and grievances, grudges turning to anger.
I was thinking about this after the local elections.
There is a difference between Reform the party, and Reform voters. The former is a private company run by wannabe fascists, quite clearly. The latter, however, are mostly just as pissed off with the establishment, with austerity and inequality as most Green, Labour, Lib Dem and some Tory voters.
I came to the thought that Reform voters would not back any wealth taxes, even though their party is allegedly 'anti-establishment'. Bear with me on this one, it'll take a few words:
Mention tax to anyone in the UK and we immediately think of HMRC and its onerous and one-sided taxation. Advances in digital technology now allow HMRC to tax even a side hustle flogging a few bits on Ebay or Vinted. Someone I know got stung for a £39 tax bill because he sold a few books and board games on Ebay, and didn't know to claim his £1000 annual allowance. That £39 will have cost HMRC far more than that in staff wages, letters, and electricity. People see this and just see a pointless vindictiveness against people just trying to get by. Taxes are what the really wealthy do to the wealthy just below them it appears, so it is just establishment enrichment. But digitisation has just allowed the wealthy establishment to extend that taxation after even smaller crumbs, all the whilst the wealthiest crony up to government and get billions in exemptions. None of that taxation trickles down to the abandoned voters in abandoned northern post-industrial towns it seems.
At the same time, most Reform voters will have grown up within the shadow of neo-liberalism - they will not be old enough to have experienced more socialist governance. So they will be embedded in the myth, no doubt spurred on by tik-tok influencers that if they just get a break, they can become wealthy with whatever scheme they think of, even it if is only to become a successful self-employed painter or plumber or car mechanic or whatever.
Thus any "wealth tax" just implies that it would be the establishment coming for them if they actually managed to get lucky or get ahead. The fact that most proposed wealth taxes are on corporate internal transfers or those worth £10 million or more is overlooked. Wealth taxes have the appearance of just the establishment doing business as usual in another form, and it is the establishment business-as-usual that Reform (and many other) voters are railing against.
Excellent analysis. Welcome to end stage ‘trickle up’ neoliberalism where there’s not much left to trickle up, and where alienated voters deliver a big F**K YOU to both the main neoliberal parties.
I'm sure it's not lost on a great many supporters that Reform's economic policies are just right-wing Toryism rebranded. The supporters obviously think these policies are a 'price worth paying' for, and a mere addendum to the populist ethnic and 'woke' issues, whereas the economics are in fact the main course, with the populist stuff being just the side-salad.
Some fist-thumping class warrior needs to raise the standard to deal to City of London types in the same way that some would have ethnic minorities 'dealt to'- perhaps deportation to the Cayman Islands!
Well put; if Andy Burnham is promoted as the man of the people - standing up to the system. It seems if successful he will not be in Parliament until the autumn. A long time for many who want help with food, heating, shelter. Reform wants to shoot Labour’s fox to keep Starmer in the role, a very politically astute approach- through the kitchen sink at it and Reform win a Manchester Mayoral election and stop a future prime minister. If the Bank ofEngland are to lose the power to set interest rates and ease the pressure, the best thing that could happen is the current chancellor also listen and understand that there policies are not helping. Small business are the life blood and they spend and employ staff, access to small tranches of capital for which the banks never lend without the security of property has also been a major problem, time has come for a great reform of the banking system and that would be an ambitious announcement. Sadly I see little hope in this area currently.
Thank you for this very well considered post about Reform. I agree that we seem to be ignored by institutions, and political parties that appear to further the aims of the wealthy groups and to impose punitive costs on everyone else. My own idea is to vote *against* any party that does not consider the man in the street.
Why Reform is allowed to function as a limited liability company and its so-called politicians spin tales so far from any truth that they make themselves into parodies of politicians is a very great wonder.
Excellent Richard. I look forward to the next essays. One issue that seems to be neglected I think is the Government's attempts to diminish the opportunities for legitimate protest and, in particular, using unpopular and ineffective legislation. In addition to being offensive it cuts off an important source of feedback and denies a safety valve by which people can let off steam. Good work Richard.
Yes—I’ve been shocked to see this happening in the U.K. (I lived in the U.S. from 1965 to 2022, married to an American). I’ve always thought people demonstrating against injustice, inequality, war, etc., should be allowed to demonstrate unless they are causing damage to property or are violent and violently expressing hatred.
If I wasn’t 85 years old and able to get out more, I might even attend one myself (as I believe a couple of my nieces may be doing). I spend a fair amount of time seething with anger at what’s been done to the U.K. by the Thatcherites—selling off our utilities and social housing — and the hedge funds and private-equity firms that have looted and destroyed so much of our industry.
Well said, Richard, a good article. Ordinary people are scared, fed up with being skint and have lost faith in the essential conservatism of the centrist parties.
There cannot be political stability without economic stability, and there cannot be economic stability without the widespread availability of good houses at decent cost. Conservatives created this problem and Labour have let it fester.
I grew up on a council estate and I am 100% certain that Reform's policies will not help any working class people. However, I am also 100% certain that the language, the tone, the vocabulary, the attitude too many Labour politicians have towards the working class is profoundly annoying. My mother-in-law worked for many years serving meals to Labour politicians in Oldham - she said they were the rudest people she has ever met. My cousin used to work with Lee Anderson - he says that a lot of Anderson's stories of coal mines are bollocks but... But... If Anderson was stood next to you in the pub, he would talk to you on a level and quite possibly buy you a pint.
Labour has lost its soul, that's why working class people vote Reform. They want to feel valued and have given up on Labour valuing them.
"Sixth, it is also vital to understand that Reform did not create the conditions from which it benefits. Austerity, privatisation, financialisation, regional inequality, declining public services and economic insecurity long predate Reform."
It might not have "created" them, but it's certainly gamed them and exploited them. Farage was one of the faces of Brexit. As we now know that it has cost the UK billions in lost revenues, why won't Starmer and co spend a little of their time clearly explaining this? All of the conditions you mention have come about as a result of decisions made by politicians. I'd like to see s YouTube channel that presents these elements in a more populist way, connecting the decisions and the results in a way that ordinary people can understand. One of the most difficult things to deal with in all this is the pitiful ability to communicate of our leaders. They are a level of abysmal that is remarkable. In a bad sense.
That is, I hope, what I am doing.
I think you are. But you are doing it with a certain amount of preconditions. Mostly you expect a base level of understanding, which many people lack. Most don't have the faintest idea of how the economy works. They assume things are done too them by a bunch of people who seem to simply want to torture them. Most of the lies about our economy are not from politicians (I'm certainly not saying they don't contribute a lot) but from the corporate class. Why did bread increase in price? The answer is often simply "because we could increase the price" – in other words we had an excuse to hang it on. This is what will happen with the closing of the strait of hormuz. Businesses that have not been affected by this will equally claim that their input prices have risen. One of the funniest things I've heard (if you like black humor) was the price of Marmite being increased despite the fact it is made (and largely eaten) in Britain, because the people who make it have their cash flow denominated in Euros. When we left the EU the value of the pound dropped against the euro... In other words what I'm saying is they don't need a lesson in economics they need an explanation for why the world is (apologies for the bad language) so fucked up. TBH as a retired business analysis guy I'm quite tempted to do it myself out of bloody mindedness. Having worked for quite a lot of corporations and their governmental ilk I have seen some truly awesomely stupid things done. Possibly explaining it would make me feel better and give some people the understanding of why businesses are so bloody awful.
Heard. So, go for it. Each voice matters. Every one of them is limited. But each adds value.
The most important point in here is the sixth one and I think it deserves to be the first. Reform is a symptom, and the disease has a specific economic identity: the exhaustion of the post-1991 globalisation model. That model delivered cheap goods and asset appreciation but concentrated gains in metropolitan centres and financial assets while hollowing out the economic base of everywhere else. The political map of populism in every developed democracy is essentially the map of places where globalisation's costs exceeded its benefits for the median voter.
Thats why country-specific explanations for Reform always feel incomplete. The same structural dynamics, wage stagnation, institutional trust collapse, immigration as proxy for insecurity, emotionally direct narratives beating technocratic ones, are producing functionally identical movements in every country that ran the same economic model. Trump, Le Pen, AfD, Meloni, Wilders, Reform. When the same phenomenon appears everywhere simultaneously the cause has to be structural rather than local. Until the underlying economic architecture changes, sophisticated condemnation of the symptom will keep failing because youre treating the rash while the infection runs underneath it.
A great summary. I look forward to next part.
Thank you for this clear analysis. It is uncanny how similar it is to what is happening here in New Zealand. Economic hardship, unemployment, unaffordable housing, lack of trust in a Govt captured by corporate lobbyists, involving the roll back of many regulations to protect our beloved environment, and attacks across the board on indigenous Maori human rights and constitutional agreements between Maori and the Crown signed in the 1800's. And a rise in popularity of a right wing, anti-Maori and anti-immigration party who are adept at reading the discontent and lack of trust and pandering to it.
Indeed, Peters is absolutely 'doing a Farage' right now. There is some talk by pundits of a Grand Coalition' between Labour and National after the election, which presumably is more to do with castrating the minor parties than any real commonality between the two. Given the economic paralysis this must lead to, I have no doubt this will accelerate the rise of extremism, by which I mean the far right, given that, unlike the UK, in NZ the Greens have no no 'proper' Left cachet upon which to build a movement.
I know, very sad...
Reform is highly effective at operating within that environment “
I realised too late( for my liking) that their ‘clicbait’ enrages us and our replies of righteous indignation exponentially increases their online presence . Silly me, fell for it!
This is not just an intelligent article but an emotionally intelligent one which is an increasingly rare example of the path reflecting the destination.
The Reform vote is high, and it’s important to consider why that is. This type of article goes right to the heart of that; instead of simply dismissing voters, it dives into their rationale - which leads to a greater, more productive discussion about how Reform can be effectively challenged. A great article and more of this is sorely needed. A great read.
As in any conflict, attack should only be the last resort.
Communication, dialogue and understanding of the issues causing any tension or dispute should be initiated swiftly with mutual respect for all involved; together with the realisation that any situation can be observed from multiple viewpoints, and that nobody is perfect, nor is there always one path for all.
People's genuine anxieties and fears should not be dismissed as being trivial, but should be listened to, and whenever 'lessons need to be learned' - the learning should actually happen, actions put in place to change to behaviours/structures/procedures. Otherwise if left to fester, or constantly being ignored, then feelings will turn to frustration and grievances, grudges turning to anger.
I was thinking about this after the local elections.
There is a difference between Reform the party, and Reform voters. The former is a private company run by wannabe fascists, quite clearly. The latter, however, are mostly just as pissed off with the establishment, with austerity and inequality as most Green, Labour, Lib Dem and some Tory voters.
I came to the thought that Reform voters would not back any wealth taxes, even though their party is allegedly 'anti-establishment'. Bear with me on this one, it'll take a few words:
Mention tax to anyone in the UK and we immediately think of HMRC and its onerous and one-sided taxation. Advances in digital technology now allow HMRC to tax even a side hustle flogging a few bits on Ebay or Vinted. Someone I know got stung for a £39 tax bill because he sold a few books and board games on Ebay, and didn't know to claim his £1000 annual allowance. That £39 will have cost HMRC far more than that in staff wages, letters, and electricity. People see this and just see a pointless vindictiveness against people just trying to get by. Taxes are what the really wealthy do to the wealthy just below them it appears, so it is just establishment enrichment. But digitisation has just allowed the wealthy establishment to extend that taxation after even smaller crumbs, all the whilst the wealthiest crony up to government and get billions in exemptions. None of that taxation trickles down to the abandoned voters in abandoned northern post-industrial towns it seems.
At the same time, most Reform voters will have grown up within the shadow of neo-liberalism - they will not be old enough to have experienced more socialist governance. So they will be embedded in the myth, no doubt spurred on by tik-tok influencers that if they just get a break, they can become wealthy with whatever scheme they think of, even it if is only to become a successful self-employed painter or plumber or car mechanic or whatever.
Thus any "wealth tax" just implies that it would be the establishment coming for them if they actually managed to get lucky or get ahead. The fact that most proposed wealth taxes are on corporate internal transfers or those worth £10 million or more is overlooked. Wealth taxes have the appearance of just the establishment doing business as usual in another form, and it is the establishment business-as-usual that Reform (and many other) voters are railing against.
That was my thought anyway, thoughts anyone?
Let me muse on that
Excellent analysis. Welcome to end stage ‘trickle up’ neoliberalism where there’s not much left to trickle up, and where alienated voters deliver a big F**K YOU to both the main neoliberal parties.
I'm sure it's not lost on a great many supporters that Reform's economic policies are just right-wing Toryism rebranded. The supporters obviously think these policies are a 'price worth paying' for, and a mere addendum to the populist ethnic and 'woke' issues, whereas the economics are in fact the main course, with the populist stuff being just the side-salad.
Some fist-thumping class warrior needs to raise the standard to deal to City of London types in the same way that some would have ethnic minorities 'dealt to'- perhaps deportation to the Cayman Islands!
Well put; if Andy Burnham is promoted as the man of the people - standing up to the system. It seems if successful he will not be in Parliament until the autumn. A long time for many who want help with food, heating, shelter. Reform wants to shoot Labour’s fox to keep Starmer in the role, a very politically astute approach- through the kitchen sink at it and Reform win a Manchester Mayoral election and stop a future prime minister. If the Bank ofEngland are to lose the power to set interest rates and ease the pressure, the best thing that could happen is the current chancellor also listen and understand that there policies are not helping. Small business are the life blood and they spend and employ staff, access to small tranches of capital for which the banks never lend without the security of property has also been a major problem, time has come for a great reform of the banking system and that would be an ambitious announcement. Sadly I see little hope in this area currently.
Forgive the drop in https://thepoliticalgardener.substack.com/p/letter-of-concern?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2lbyd4
But I do want people to understand that a British Labour Government has form for abusing powers as much as any Tory, Reform, Restore Leader will...
I am watching the reality of right wing working men crumble as they discover who's really who in this world of corruption and capitalism.