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New Statesman
a day ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
The Brits who want to overthrow the state
Illustration by Roy Scott / Ikon Images Reading this while British? Then there's an extremely high chance you want to overthrow the state, or so right-wing commentators would have it. If this information comes as a shock, then I can but point you to this tweet by Daily Express political correspondent Christian Calgie that reads: 'If you don't understand how close tens of millions of Britons are to wanting a full-blown revolution, let alone fail to understand why, then you have no value as a political commentator.' There are almost 70 million people in the UK. That, by my count, puts the odds that you're a closet revolutionary at somewhere around one in three. Eye your neighbours with suspicion, comrade. This is easy to mock. But this excitable doomsday prophesying is hardly unique. The Express journalist Carole Malone has warned Jeremy Vine that immigration has left Britain 'like a tinderbox that's set to explode'. Over in the Telegraph, Isabel Oakeshott has, more in sorrow than in anger, agreed with Nigel Farage's claim that Britain is facing 'societal collapse'. 'Unless our leaders get a grip – and fast,' she warned, 'exasperated communities will turn vigilante.' Meanwhile, columnist Allison Pearson – who, delightfully, co-hosts a podcast named Planet Normal – recently tweeted, 'Anyone else hoping for a military coup?' At its end, she included a shrug emoji. Then there's disappointed former politics professor Matt Goodwin, whose Substack I have looked at so you don't have to. Recent headlines over there have included 'Labour is pushing the UK into civil unrest', 'Is Britain about to blow?', 'Epping is a warning of what's to come', and 'How things fall apart'. (This last one promises 'more BOMBSHELL numbers on what is really happening in the UK'. Exciting!) I am writing this from London, which, so far as I can tell has not fallen, is not on fire and remains free of sharia law. So perhaps I know not whereof I speak. But I do not think this country is on the verge of revolution. Sorry, but I don't. It just isn't very British. We tried it once, didn't like it, switched it off again, and were then one of the few countries in Europe that didn't join in the fun during 1848. We've experienced both street action and political violence, yes, and these are febrile times – but such things have never overthrown a government. Most of the time they don't even change policy. There is ample evidence of real rage out there (there's this report from Anoosh Chakelian, for one thing). Events in Epping are worrying; last summer there were riots. From Corbyn to Brexit, the Labour landslide to the Reform surge, there are plenty of signs that the public hungers for substantive change. But anti-migrant protests have often been accompanied by pro-migrant counter-protests, and polling has found that the British public overwhelmingly oppose street violence as a form of political action. (According to YouGov, just 7 per cent supported last year's riots; 85 per cent were opposed.) This is not a country that's ready to man the barricades. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe All of which raises a question: what exactly do right-wing commentators think they're playing at? Why are they not just predicting social disorder – of the sort they'd want water cannons or worse to deal with, if it came from, say, students – but salivating over it? Their tone inescapably brings to mind the anti-hero character Rorschach from Alan Moore's Watchmen ('And all the whores and politicians will look up and shout: 'Save us!' And I'll look down and whisper: 'No.''). Or possibly it just reminds one of a tantruming child sobbing out the words, 'THEN you'll be sorry.' One possible explanation for all this is that an urge to shout increasingly unhinged things is an unfortunate necessity in today's ultracompetitive attention economy. Another is that Brexit irreparably warped some commentators' grasp of the concept of loser's consent. If you've spent years earnestly arguing that the will of the people is paramount, and an election victory is a mandate to deliver whatever what you happen to want, then an election loss must come to feel insupportable. The will of the people, surely, must make itself known in some other way. Then again, perhaps this is just what happens when a government is too cowardly to ever state, in plain language, that not all concerns are legitimate, that whipping up hysteria is, at best, anti-social, and that feeling angry is not the same thing as being right. It's just possible that all that's in the mix, too. [See more: Visions of an English civil war] Related
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Planet Normal: ‘The numbers don't add up' in Rachel Reeves' spending review
' What we saw today, in terms of the areas under her control, there are big question marks that need to be asked' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player below, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss Labour's spending review with economist Gerard Lyons. Mr Lyons wasn't convinced by the numbers, ' Early in her speech the Chancellor said, is the plan credible, and the answer unfortunately is, no.' 'T he starting position is debt is very high, and I think we're in the early stages of Britain going into a debt crisis. If you're looking for good news, it might be that we're not the only country facing this problem; but today the Chancellor gave a speech that I think lacked a lot of the detail.' Allison is not convinced by the claims the economy is stabilising, ' We know it is not true, and we are already starting to see the impact on employment and on businesses. We know payrolls have fallen, that employment's fallen by over 250,000 since Rachel Reeves' budget. This is not an economy where you should be taking the gambles that she's taking. Where is the growth going to come from?' Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mel Stride: Reform is not offering the public a realistic economic deal
' There is a deep, dangerous fiscal irresponsibility at the heart of the offer that Reform has' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player below, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Mel Stride, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, who warns of growing economic threats from both the Left and the populist Right. Speaking ahead of his speech today, Mr Stride outlines where he sees the fiscal threat from Reform and why he doesn't believe they will be effective. 'It appears that they are whatever kind of party they think will appeal to what people want to hear in different parts of the country and across the political spectrum. This is a party that, on the one hand, likes to talk about lowering taxes, and on the other hand wants to increase welfare spending, with the abolition of the two child benefit cap.' 'These tax cuts are there right across the board and where they can apparently find the money very quickly, but none of it is realistic.' In regards to Labour, Mr Stride lays out where he believes they have caused economic damage; ' The reality is this government's economic policy, which has included putting up National Insurance on employers, that cost has been passed on by way of higher prices has also fuelled inflation. 'It has also had a devastating consequence on the servicing costs of our national debt. We are now spending, on servicing costs on our national debt alone, about a hundred billion pounds, which is twice what we spend on defence. Those kinds of levels of spending and pressure on the public finances can be laid very squarely at the door of Rachel Reeves.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Andrew Griffith: We need a UK DOGE to cut government spending
'We do need a scythe like exercise to push back on some of this level of regulation' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Andrew Griffith, Shadow Business and Trade Secretary, about the economic outlook for the UK following Labour's recent economic policy announcements, and whether the country would benefit from a DOGE, Elon Musk's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency. The Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs says 'my old fashioned view is the job of every minister in their department is to deliver value for money and spend money wisely as if it's your own,' but did go on to say 'whether you institutionalise it as DOGE or have a separate unit in the cabinet office, I would certainly, on day one, have a very ambitious program of restoring lines of demographic accountability.' Griffith, who has previously worked as CFO and COO for Sky, believes we have too many regulators, which stymies new business, 'The clock speed of the UK economy is just painful. We all know it takes so long to build infrastructure projects. It takes a long time to get clearance for a business merger. I want a new generation of entrepreneurs.' 'They have got smart ideas and they are ambitious. Many of them are leaving and going to other countries overseas. A little bit of movement is not a bad thing, but when people feel they are pushed out because of crime, the cost of living, housing or just facing a higher-margin tax rate, if they succeed, that is something I think should upset everybody.' 'When these people leave [the county] everybody is poorer. The people who stay behind have to pay either more tax or there is just less money to go round for our public services. Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'It's very hard to point to a single concession that Trump has forced Putin to make'
'The shocking part of what's happened over the last couple of weeks is that apparently Trump and Washington are willing to sign off on essentially redrawing international borders at the demands of Vladimir Putin... But I don't think Trump is a Russian agent. I think that's completely childish and stupid' On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss the war in Ukraine with historian and author Owen Matthews as negotiations for peace continue. The author of Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin's war on Ukraine sees the war between Ukraine and Russia at a stalemate but also at a 'grim moment', 'The Russians have been attacking and advancing, and Ukrainians have been pushed back in certain places.' He added, 'There's a sense that the Ukrainians are exhausted. They haven't got enough men. They haven't got enough ammunition' Without continuing support from the US Owen says the burden will fall to closer allies, 'There is no way for Ukraine to make any major military advances without a full commitment of the West.' Asked to assess the chances of a ceasefire in the coming weeks, Owen concludes ' I think actually, yes, given what we know. It's an extraordinary sort of piece of geopolitical luck that suddenly, for internal American reasons, the US administration suddenly sort of landed in his [Putin's] lap. It's turned his way. The world has turned his way. Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
