Latest news with #workingClass
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Left-wing haters need a lesson in Thatcherism
Deputising for Charles Moore in these pages from time to time is more than enough to make my imposter syndrome run wild, but emulating him by writing a biography of Margaret Thatcher when he has already written a magnificent three volume one, is perhaps inevitably a step too far. Mine will be published on Thursday but is barely a pamphlet by comparison, and perhaps has a different objective. Its aim is twofold – to introduce her to a new generation, which wasn't alive when she was in power. It's astonishing to realise that, to have ever voted for Margaret Thatcher, you would have to be at least 54 years old. In the 35 years since her fall from power, so many myths have grown up about her that many younger Brits probably think she was responsible for the slaughter of the first born. There have been only three significant prime ministers since the war whose policies still impact the way we live today – Attlee, Thatcher and Blair. As Tony Benn would have put it, they were each signposts rather than weathervanes. But today's younger generations have been indoctrinated into believing that Margaret Thatcher was privileged and her policies were only ever aimed to benefit the rich. That's presumably why she oversaw the biggest transfer to the working classes in the history of our country – by which I mean the sale of council houses and encouraging ordinary people to buy shares in privatised companies. People believe she supported the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa because she didn't impose sanctions. In fact, she did more to bring Apartheid to an end than virtually anyone else, as our then Ambassador to South Africa, Robin Renwick, has detailed in his various books. Nelson Mandela personally thanked her for her role in getting him released and bringing the evils of that regime to an end. According to Left-wing haters, Thatcher did nothing for the environment. Yet it was she who was the head of government in the world to warn of the dangers of climate change in 1989 – before most people had ever heard of the term. If I was wanting to court controversy, I could also have said she closed down most of the coal industry, something our current Government is urging China and others to do. That she was a dictator who brooked no dissent is another myth about Lady Thatcher. Yes, she would lead from the front and challenge others to defeat her argument, but there are countless occasions when people did just that and contrary to their fears, their careers prospered. It's how John Major got into the cabinet. A theme of the book is also that although she revelled in being seen as a conviction politician, in reality she was very pragmatic and realised that a bull in a china shop approach rarely achieved the desired results. Trade union reform is a case in point. Contrary to popular myth, Thatcher was not 'anti-European' and most people who knew her doubt she would have supported Brexit. Her famous Bruges speech, where she said she said 'We haven't successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state only to see them reimposed at a European level' was actually very pro-European if people took the time to read the whole thing. Woke up Did you know that men can have periods and menstruate? Nope, me neither. But that's the latest quackery promoted by the more extreme parts of the trans lobby. Their logic, presumably, is that trans men are men (just as 'transwomen are women'), and as such they continue to menstruate. Bunzl, one of the biggest toiletry suppliers in the UK, has produced an inclusive language guide, God save us. It recommends that common terms such as 'sanitary', 'hygiene' and 'feminine products' should be replaced with the term 'period products' to avoid offence. Who on earth is supposed to be offended? This sort of ridiculous virtue-signalling idiocy needs to be called out by people across the board, and not just those with Nigel and Farage in their names. Biological men cannot menstruate. Fact. And that's the end of it. Every little helps For a Government that repeatedly tells us that it is unashamedly pro-growth, it has spent much of its first year in power introducing policies which achieve the exact opposite, and the chickens are starting to come home to roost. I've lost count of the number of business people I know who have imposed recruitment freezes, had to shed workers or cancel planned pay rises as a result of the decision to increase Employers' National Insurance to 15 per cent and cut the threshold to £5,000, and in addition increase the minimum wage by 6.7 per cent. There is no form of political or economic sophistry that Rachel Reeves can deploy to persuade us that there measures are anything else but growth killers. Tesco now tell us they're planning for many of their stores to shut an hour earlier as their costs have increased by £235 million, just from the NI hike alone. Proof, were it ever needed, that actions have consequences.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Democratic Party is at risk of becoming ‘roadkill,' warns Tim Walz
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz harshly critiqued the Democratic Party and its failure to connect with the working class in coast-to-coast appearances on Saturday, warning in a speech here in California that the party is at risk of becoming 'roadkill' after its steep losses in the 2024 elections. In one of the clearest signs yet that he is seriously weighing a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 after serving as Kamala Harris's running mate in 2024, Walz spent the morning addressing Democrats in the early primary state of South Carolina before dashing across the country to close out a gathering of state party delegates in Anaheim.
Fox News
5 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Blue MAGA
Democrats have come up with a new idea to appeal to working class voters: 'Blue MAGA.' Plus, they're admitting that Trump was right about everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit Jeffrey Petz
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Democrats spending millions to learn how to speak to ‘American Men' and win back the working class
Democrats have blown millions of dollars on efforts to appeal to 'American Men,' who turned to President Donald Trump in droves on election day, in the hopes of winning back the working class, according to a report. Democrats have spent $20 million on their efforts, with donors and strategists holing up in luxury hotel rooms brainstorming how to convince working-class men to return to the party, according to a New York Times report. The plan, code-named SAM, or 'Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan,' promises to use the funds to 'study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces,' according to the report. As the Times described it, the reports 'can read like anthropological studies of people from faraway places.' The effort also recommends Democrats buy advertisements in video games, among other things, the Times reported. 'Above all, we must shift from a moralizing tone,' the plan urges. While the Democratic Party has struggled in recent years to maintain voters, the party hopes to be rejuvenated by the fact that Trump's popularity has been on the decline since he was elected last fall. Still, the party has been scrambling to find both messaging and a messenger since losing the White House, and Senate while Republicans held the House of Representatives in the November election. According to the poll, 40 percent of people either strongly or somewhat approve of Trump's overall handling of the presidency, while 56 percent disapprove, split by the same modifiers, putting him 16 points underwater. 'Trump's numbers seem to be getting worse and worse, and I'm pretty optimistic Democrats will have some real opportunities in 2026,' Zac McCrary, a Democratic pollster, told the Times. 'The 2022 midterms masked the Biden problem,' he said about former President Joe Biden. 'A good 2026 midterm — we should not let that mask a deeper problem.' Democrats have 'lost credibility by being seen as alien on cultural issues,' McCrary added. Meanwhile, longtime Democratic researcher Anat Shenker-Osorio told the Times, the Democrats must take actionable steps to earn back voters. 'Voters are hungry for people to actually stand up for them — or get caught trying,' she said. 'The party is doing a lot of navel-gazing and not enough full-belly acting.'
Washington Post
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Bruce Springsteen's lyrical view of America has long included politics — even more so as he ages
WASHINGTON — Even as his fame and wealth have soared over the decades, Bruce Springsteen has retained the voice of the working class' balladeer, often weighing in on politics — most notably when he was a regular presence on Barack Obama's presidential campaign. This month, though, his music and public statements have ended up as particularly pointed and contentious.
