[Look at this, from a focus group leader who penned it for Channel 4 in Britain. Excerpt:
In Wales last year, the Labour government ordered museums to "decolonize" their collections and presentations, so as not to offend the "diverse." This could mean the removal of statues of Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington.Quote:
The former fishing town, won by Boris Johnson in 2019 and wrestled back by Labour in 2024, perches on the edge of the North Sea. It is one of the ninety seats where Reform UK is second to Labour.
I spoke to two groups of people. The first voted Labour in 2024 but now lean to Nigel Farage's party. The second like many across the country did not vote at all last year. These voters' backgrounds ranged from an Afghanistan veteran to a retiree, from a carer to a stay-at-home mum recovering from depression.
Their outlook for the country was nothing short of apocalyptic. They spoke of hundreds of homeless Britons on the streets, while "floods" of illegal migrants are housed in hotels on the taxpayer. A carer spoke of children hobbled with mental health problems, the long hangover of the Covid pandemic still biting. The stay-at-home mum talked of criminals and junkies living above her, with politicians and local police powerless to stop them.
Not one of the Labour voters could name an achievement by the party they voted for. The most recalled action was Labour's cutting of the winter fuel allowance, described as punishing Brits to siphon more money to immigration. The non-voting group spurned the election deliberately, feeling there was no option that represented them. The mainstream parties' alien values had pushed them away: "there's no democracy in the UK anymore".
The government's handling was "disgraceful", "disgusting", "managed decline". Britain was described as "losing everything that made us great". Some even spoke of the possibility of violence, a "civil war", a "revolution".
Immigration was at its core, with high numbers of legal and illegal migration seen to be "diluting" British culture and the "indigenous people" of the country. In this context, Keir Starmer's welfare cuts were seen as an insult to Britain's poorest while the money kept flowing to those crossing the channel on small boats.
This morning, on the drive to the airport, I was listening to the latest "Rest Is History" podcast, in which the hosts were talking about a Viking king, Sven Forkbeard, attacking particular targets in England with the intention of humiliating the English king Ethelred by showing that he was unable to protect the kingdom's women. I thought: huh, what are the Muslim rape gangs today all about?] -Rod Dreher