The ‘Guardian’ Are Beginning To Feel The Winds Of Change

It's always fun when 'Guardian' staffers go out amongst the people of this fair land...

As strange as it may sound, Rugeley felt like a good place to feel the global shock waves from the inauguration of Donald Trump – dutifully attended, let’s not forget, by the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos – and to find out what people thought about his style of politics. Last summer, the result in the local constituency of Cannock Chase saw the first stirrings of a change that has since gripped national politics: Labour and the Tories finished on 36% and 29% of the vote respectively, while the Anglo-Trumpers of Reform UK took a very impressive 27%.

And if it were run right now, Labour would be lucky to get into double figures, wouldn’t they? 

As this shift has played out, there have been recent suggestions that any British appetite for Trump-style politics is bound to be limited.

Well, maybe you shouldn’t believe all you’re told.  

In Rugeley, it did not feel like that.

See? 

Our first stop was a bustling community centre, where a parent and toddler group was happening next to a weekly lunch for pensioners – and we got a sharp sense of how the quiet privations and disappointments of 21st-century English lives have opened people to the specious promises of hard-right populism.

What 'hard - right populism', John?  

We had a long conversation with Emma and Cian, a couple who had come with their baby. “This is a very, very quiet town – it always has been,” she said. “Not a lot goes on around here … and nothing lasts long.” To most people, Cian told me, the arrival and eventual winding-down of the Amazon warehouse had barely registered. He didn’t know anyone who had worked there. “It’s just a big blue building at the end of the town that’ll be gone soon.” I wondered: when the government changed last year, did it make them feel any different about the future? “No,” said Emma, wearily. “We don’t expect anything out of what we’re told.”

Not exactly the fires of revolution, but maybe those aren't too far off... 

What if a Trump-type figure promised to make Britain great again? She laughed, and glanced at her partner. “We’ve got different opinions on that,” she said. “I kind of like what he’s doing. I wish more would be put into the UK. I think we need someone with a bit more of … an oomph about them.”

Oh dear! Seizing on a brown face like a drowning man seizing a lifebelt, John tries again:

Nearby, we met Kenan, a Turkish-born Just Eat driver – forced into the world of endless delivery shifts, he said, when his IT business went bust during the pandemic. When I mentioned Trump, his face lit up.

“He’s the man,” he said. “He’s the man.” “He’s reckless,” he told me, and he was not using that word as a pejorative. “He does what he says, not like other politicians. They say they’re going to do something with the economy, and they don’t do it. But Donald Trump does.” Did it feel strange to be bigging up someone so set against immigration? “As a foreigner,” he said, “I’ve seen people only using the system. And I’m working 12 or 13 hours a day.”

Heh! And why shouldn't he be aggrieved by that, John? Why should he feel solidarity with them? 

As darkness fell, we sat in a car park, listening to the first Trump speech of inauguration day with one of the car windows down.

The locals probably thought you were dogging…. 

A white transit van pulled up next to us: inside was a father and his three kids. He began telling us the details of his life before we even asked about them. “My dad was in world war two,” he said. “When he left the navy, he had three cement wagons, and he put the concrete in Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham.” His daily existence, by contrast, was a mess of financial hardship, the impossibility of combining childcare with work, a dire shortage of mental health provision and the impossibilities of the benefits system. Four days a week, he said, he hardly ate. He was now 50: he had voted only once in his life, and it was for Reform UK. “Some of the things Trump says, some of the things Elon Musk says, some of the things Reform UK say – they sound good,” he said. “But it’s action you want in this country.”

I fear one day we'll see it, and it won't be something John will be rushing out to cover.... 

'Look On My Works, Ye Mighty, And Despair’

The far right across Europe used to dream of seeing their countries leave the European Union. In France, they called for a Frexit; in Germany, it was Dexit. But recently these calls have quietened. The reason is not that far-right parties have become enamoured of the EU, but rather they now understand that instead of quitting, they can reshape the EU into a collection of “strong” nation states that will each enact their own rightwing anti-migration agenda.

As Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (RN) in France, recently remarked in explaining why his party no longer called for France to quit the EU: “You don’t leave the table when you are winning the game.”

If you can't beat them, join them (and subvert them), eh? How delicious! 

The German government is on a dangerous path. The country holds a central position in the EU and is its largest economy, meaning that this plan, which goes against one of the central tenets of the EU, threatens to undermine the European project.

Oh noes! Disaster! Who could do such a thing? 

A cornerstone of that project was the ambition to make national borders disappear by creating the passport-free Schengen area, which now includes 25 of the 27 EU member states. It was one of the reasons why the EU received the Nobel peace prize in 2012 – although even then, thousands of migrants were dying at the EU’s external borders every year. At the time, a representative of the union declared: “Over the past 60 years, the European project has shown that it is possible for peoples and nations to come together across borders. That it is possible to overcome the differences between ‘them’ and ‘us’.”

Actually, enough Europeans have realised that it doesn't show that at all, that in fact it shows the opposite. And they've had enough of a union that's no longer working for them, but for itself.  

Besides stoking up racist resentment in society and undermining the rights of vulnerable groups, the German government risks putting the EU itself in jeopardy. The very idea of a political community that enshrines the right to free movement across borders is crumbling before our eyes. And it is not migrants who are to blame.

Ah, well, it had a good run while it lasted. 

Don't They Say In Texas "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide"..?

I really hope it's true.

An investigation led by Republican Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has sent doctors at an Austin hospital into a panic, causing all the physicians in its adolescent medicine department to depart.

Hmmm, 'adolescent medicine'? Treating acne and growth spurts? 

Not quite! 

Earlier this week, Dell Children’s Clinic, which provides gender-affirming care for trans children, announced to parents that they would need to find new providers for their children in transition.

Let's hope this is just the start of the pushback against this insidious trend... 

Paxton’s office claimed the investigation was being conducted on the grounds that the care these children were receiving was illegal because they were under the age of 18.

How much under, I wonder? 

'Quick, Blame The Far Right!'

Not previously high on the agenda of voters more concerned with a crumbling, two-tier healthcare system and a chronic housing crisis, a recent poll found that a small majority (56%) of Irish respondents believe the country has accepted too many refugees over the past year.

Ooh, must be racism! 

Ireland is currently housing about 74,000 asylum applicants, 49,227 of whom are Ukrainians.

Oh. OK, must be over-estimation of the true figures! 

A year ago, the total number was 7,500.

Oh. Errr...? The mythical 'far right', then? 

Now anti-refugee sentiment has exploded amid a devastating housing crisis, made worse by the destabilising effects of public sector cuts and stagnant wages.

These protests have drawn from the same rhetorical, tactical, and ideological energy as the recent anti-refugee riot in Knowsley, England.

Imported from Britain, no less! 

Preying on these fears, Irish far-right activists are disseminating false information about criminal activities. Proliferating through social media on any given day are rumours of sexual assault or the harassment of women by migrants, or grainy, unverifiable video clips of the same.

Ah, so when you can't deny that incidents have actually happened because there's video evidence, just whine about the qaulity of the video instead. Genius! 

In reality, the far-right menace remains small.

So why are you getting hot under the collar about it? 

But the spread of the contagion could provide a challenge from the right as Sinn Féin feathers itself for power for the first time in the Irish republic . Growing anti-migrant sentiment could benefit the more hardline immigration policies of parties such as Fine Gael. Only time will tell, however, if the anti-immigration consensus seen in large parts of Britain can be replicated in Ireland.

If the issues you decry as 'nonsense' keep up, you'll see it all right. 

Amateurs...

Eco-zealots are said to be planning to 'swarm and block' roundabouts in a fresh wave of action targeting road users, expected to take place during rush hour tomorrow.

You think you're causing chaos for motorists? 

You're tiddlers. Watch what a Great White does to motorists...

Rather Refreshing, Eh?

The visibly disgusted sheriff described Black as 'the most despicable excuse for a human being I've ever seen in my life.'

He added: 'There is a special place in hell for this woman. Until she gets there, she's going to rot in our jail'.

Wow! No doubt this will have the Guardian-reading progressives clutching their pearls in horror... 

Ivy said the video was taken last October by a home surveillance camera and provided to the Sheriff's Department by a former roommate of Black's. Ivy called the incident sickening and showed visible anger and disgust as he walked Black into the women's annex of the Brevard County jail.

'If I hear as much that she has a pet rock, I will lose my cr*p because this woman doesn't deserve to have anything,' Ivy said. 'You know, usually when I'm walking people in, I have something to say to them,' he tells Black. 'I'm disgusted by you.'

But isn't it refreshing not to hear a law official sound like a social worker for once? We could do with some of that over this side of the pond...

Fighting Talk!

Dr Bryn Harris, the FSU's Chief Legal Counsel, said: 'This is a tremendous victory for Simon and for free speech. The lesson is clear: if you’re a member of the FSU, make sure your employer knows it. And if you’re an employer – don’t bully our members, or we’ll come for you.'

Free Speech Union General Secretary Toby Young said: 'I'm delighted we were able to help Simon win a landmark victory for free speech.

'I hope this sends a message to other employers: you cannot dismiss staff for gross misconduct for mocking woke diversity training. Workers have rights, including the right to free speech.'

Well, well, well...isn't it nice to see a good news story for once? 

A West Midlands Trains spokesperson said: 'We respect the decision of the Tribunal. West Midlands Trains is an inclusive employer and there is no place for discriminatory behaviour within the rail industry.'

Then why did you try it, and then fail? Hard? 

Oooh, I Think I Know The Answer...

...is it 'Because they are even worse'..?

Some commentators think Democrats have moved too far to the left – too far from the so-called “center.” This is utter rubbish.

Really? So what do you put it down to? 

The real failure of the Democratic party is its loss of the American working class.

As Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg concluded after the 2016 election: “Democrats don’t have a ‘white working-class’ problem. They have a ‘working-class problem’, which progressives have been reluctant to address honestly or boldly. The fact is that Democrats have lost support with all working-class voters across the electorate.”

That's true, indeed. And why do they no longer support Democrats? Because they've moved too far to the left! 

The most powerful force in American politics today is anti-establishment fury at a rigged system.

You only have to look across the water to Europe, don't you?