I think it’s very clear to see that the centre is being squeezed. We have a fairly centrist/centre left government here for the last few months and they’re getting pilloried by what I’ve called in my head the new right for being commies and from elements of the left for not being radical enough. And they’ve done very little that didn’t actually have to be done to keep the country afloat. If anything they’ve been way too timid but it’s a long game.
Trump is just the front man of the MAGA movement, a clueless imbecile to put in front of the cameras. The real movers and shakers are far more sinister. We live in dangerous times. The USA is now a rogue state.
I think Starmer is coming up against an increasingly communication based soundbite culture that rewards rhetoric over outcomes. That’s the problem, he’s a good man but he’s a politician built for better times.
I sincerely hope that he is successful in his strive to be judged on what he does than how he communicates because this is good for politics overall.
I’m in agreement in the end the orange man is an agent of chaos that allows more sinister forces to operate. But although completely nuts his appeal is that he is a man of action right or wrong. That’s the problem centrism is up against as that requires compromise, rule of law and trade offs.
There are big dangers at moment. The hard right is gaining more and more support in the younger age bracket and of course they’ll always have a base in the reactionary old.
My take is that the moderates need to recognise they have made mistakes and probably do need to refocus their energies to what people care about because if they don’t this will continue and gain more momentum.
Eg immigration. Admit failings. Admit it’s been too high for too long. But also stare the public in the eye and explain the reason for it and the trade offs. Tell the public students are not to be counted in figures as they’re temporary and that they will mean REDUCED taxation as a result as they fund that sector. Stop pussy footing around on Europe explain Brexit has ruined cross border collaboration and say we will be working closely to stop issue of boats.
I’m saying stop treating everyone like idiots. There’s about 10-15% who will always buy the snake oil. Ignore them. You can’t teach stupid but you can teach ignorant. Hammer messages in a strong direct way and ideally get figures from across spectrum to fess up.
Diversity - reframe the argument. Move on from identity politics. Focus on opportunity for those at the bottom. But be assertive about this not in a very technocratic way. This should have cross party support. I actually do think diversity jobs are a load of nonsense and a waste of money and there should simply be more money ploughed into opportunities for working class kids. But as ever because it’s gone too far the backlash in states is complete withdrawal from it ‘all’ which has impacts.
Fundamentally there needs to a recognition of mistakes but these forces must be faced down or we’re in for a very dark period in history.
