Excellent analysis that nails the divides. I don't know if anyone saw Winston Marshall's speech at the Oxford union on the subject of Is populism a threat to democracy? The elite of which Nancy Pelosi is a prime example showed complete disdain for him as a person and of course his argument. He was definitely defined as a person outside the city gates, as he says she repeatedly mouthed off camera, which he was speaking 'Who are you' and also 'Why are you doing this'. Most definitely he is a barbarian, and somehow somehow he got inside the city to debate her ...I imagine she was unaware/duped/too arrogant to bother to research who her opponent was. These chinks are occurring. I guess it's a case of how many savages can be pushed so far that they cease to be so meek and weak and compliant when manipulated by all the fear message bombardment and turn rogue, and join the barbarians. I think we're seeing signs of this.... those that at last are finding they can speak, and are speaking up for reality to the gender ideologues for example. Anyway great article. Thanks!
Yes - I think we're in a better place than we were perhaps two or three years ago, and this obviously is why the Pelosis of the world are becoming more vicious.
But the snark and decidedly 'low-brow' approach I take is really just a way to get the huge frustration off my chest, to release some of the pressure. I'm desperately worried for the UK, a country I love, because there seems to be nobody prepared to step up and defend its culture and core values. Instead we get these simpering elites who blow about from one 'next thing' to another and I have no idea what any party stands for these days.
My metaphor is the Emperors New Clothes. For years the Elite courtiers have danced before the Emperor competing for patronage and position. The savage servants have been domesticated and serve the Elite couriers their fine food and fine wine. The barbarians, on the outside, look through the windows of the ballroom and see a lot of fools prancing about in pursuit of their own self interests. But slowly the awareness is dawning and spreading out inside and outside the ballroom. The Emperor's new clothes are a gaudy fiction and don't actually exist. The Emperor has no clothes at all. Why dance before him?
Now whether the Emperor's New Clothes are neo-liberalism, the New World Order, fiat money, a new global Hanseatic League, managed democracy, identity politics, class warfare or some unholy combination of them all *doesn't matter*. Long debates stimulated by the Emperor's pundits about 'the single cause' are a distraction. It seems that an Empire will always be with us but perhaps we should fling open the windows and let the new Emperor emerge, with a new set of courtiers.
Reminds me of Matthew Arnold's Culture & Anarchy (1869), where he discusses the agitations of his time in terms of The Barbarians and the Philistines. The Barbarians are the aristocrats who pursue enlightenment and individual perfection, whereas the Philistines represent the middle classes who pursue wealth for its own sake, and seek to "do as they like."
Sadly, I cannot think of an effective political message (ie clear, coherent and intelligible to the ordinary bus passenger) that could persuade a majority of the savages and Barbarians to vote for it. “Take back control” sort of worked, but turned out to be meaningless rhetoric.
It is easy to assume, as a British citizen, that the barbarians are everywhere out in the dark, muttering, as you said.
Whereas in fact across the West, they are storming the city walls. Think Donald Trump in America, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, the AfD in Germany, and even Marine Le Pen in France (although she seems rather old fashioned and almost civilised compared with those others!).
It is the "civilised" , the Establishment, who are deeply threatened in most Western countries. The future, for barbarians, seems rather hopeful!
Time will tell. I'm always a little wary about commenting on affairs overseas because I don't really have the expertise. In some ways I think we we were in a really good position, comparatively, in 2019 in which there was underway a genuine transition to a proper British style of populism. But we all know what put the kibosh on that...
I agree... though perhaps for different reasons. In our time, democratic party political pluralism has become more illusion than reality. Why? Because all 'politcal' roads now lead inevitably somehow to the same place - bureaucracy and 'experts'. "our modern advanced societies are just stuck with their modern equivalent of Dickens’ Circumlocution Office. Stuck with both its dreary nannying state bureaucracy and its late-stage-capitalist blah blah." I see no 'solution' though.
Going off at a complete tangent your comment puts me in mind of Bob Monk house: "My friends laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian..... They're not laughing now."
Edmund Burke warned of the danger of political parties back in the 18th century - he said that elections needed to be 'free' by which he meant that there should be freedom to nominate a candidate and that anyone elected should be answerable only to his constituents.
Now, financial requirements to stand and the two party system mean only those backed by a party with assets can afford to stand for election.
It stands to reason that if you owe your position as an MP to the backing of a political party - they are your boss (via the Whip) and you do as you are told. MPs are not called lobby fodder for nothing.
Burke was writing at a very different time, when electorates were very small and when people were habituated to governing their own affairs and public policy basically concerned trade and warfare. I like the Burkean ideal, but we have to accept that is an ideal and not the reality which we currently inhabit.
Yes, this is the nub of the problem - size! Often people dismiss the idea of a Swiss style democracy with a resigned, "but we are a much bigger population". This is the issue we need to address.
There's a great book - about the philosophy of architecture - called 'A Pattern Language' by Alexander, Ishikawa and Silverstein, which highlights how humans need to be at the centre of their lives and part of something that is NOT TOO BIG! Otherwise it becomes de-humanising and chaotic. Once bee colonies get to a certain size, for example, they divide into two colonies. Once empires get too big, they collapse.
We are ignoring human scale in our political systems. The Founding Fathers of the United States had the right idea when they created the states - having their own governance, separate to and independent of the Federal government.
We need to federalise - like Switzerland - break our governance down into human scale entities and have Independent representatives in the governing assemblies - representatives who actually REPRESENT the citizens they serve.
This will be the big question after the election, but my money is on the Tory party being successfully reinvented, rather than new political parties making real headway. This is what the Tory party has done repeatedly throughout its history, and I think the pattern will repeat. We shall see in due course!
The political realignment is nascent in the UK, which the 2019 election and subsequently Matt Goodwin’s polling consistently shows. Boris is simply too Establishment (Eton, Telegraph, Spectator) and was too temperamentally weak to follow it through. He also had a parliamentary party stuffed with wets from Cameron’s Blairite reforms. Annihilation may open the door to a Tory leader with the thirst for power and imperviousness to incessant MSM name-calling to pull off the realignment. Then they have to defeat the blob once in power. Trump is far enough outside the Establishment, has the vanity and the thick skin, to take a second run at the Deep State, which went knees-to-chest to stymie him first time, then juiced the election to oust him. He has just purged the RNP and is forcing the full realignment of US politics. His polling suggests there is an unstoppable majority of barbarians. How he gets on against the Deep State will tell us much about how a government formed in 2029 by a realigned Tory party will get on delivering.
Excellent analysis that nails the divides. I don't know if anyone saw Winston Marshall's speech at the Oxford union on the subject of Is populism a threat to democracy? The elite of which Nancy Pelosi is a prime example showed complete disdain for him as a person and of course his argument. He was definitely defined as a person outside the city gates, as he says she repeatedly mouthed off camera, which he was speaking 'Who are you' and also 'Why are you doing this'. Most definitely he is a barbarian, and somehow somehow he got inside the city to debate her ...I imagine she was unaware/duped/too arrogant to bother to research who her opponent was. These chinks are occurring. I guess it's a case of how many savages can be pushed so far that they cease to be so meek and weak and compliant when manipulated by all the fear message bombardment and turn rogue, and join the barbarians. I think we're seeing signs of this.... those that at last are finding they can speak, and are speaking up for reality to the gender ideologues for example. Anyway great article. Thanks!
Yes - I think we're in a better place than we were perhaps two or three years ago, and this obviously is why the Pelosis of the world are becoming more vicious.
Wonderful article David. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I produced a much less insightful take expressing my own frustration. It's more barbarian in the gutter than barbarian outside the city walls
https://rudolphrigger.substack.com/p/an-election-in-2-pictures
But the snark and decidedly 'low-brow' approach I take is really just a way to get the huge frustration off my chest, to release some of the pressure. I'm desperately worried for the UK, a country I love, because there seems to be nobody prepared to step up and defend its culture and core values. Instead we get these simpering elites who blow about from one 'next thing' to another and I have no idea what any party stands for these days.
Except the Greens. They stand for Batshit Crazy,
A fine analysis, which I agree with.
My metaphor is the Emperors New Clothes. For years the Elite courtiers have danced before the Emperor competing for patronage and position. The savage servants have been domesticated and serve the Elite couriers their fine food and fine wine. The barbarians, on the outside, look through the windows of the ballroom and see a lot of fools prancing about in pursuit of their own self interests. But slowly the awareness is dawning and spreading out inside and outside the ballroom. The Emperor's new clothes are a gaudy fiction and don't actually exist. The Emperor has no clothes at all. Why dance before him?
Now whether the Emperor's New Clothes are neo-liberalism, the New World Order, fiat money, a new global Hanseatic League, managed democracy, identity politics, class warfare or some unholy combination of them all *doesn't matter*. Long debates stimulated by the Emperor's pundits about 'the single cause' are a distraction. It seems that an Empire will always be with us but perhaps we should fling open the windows and let the new Emperor emerge, with a new set of courtiers.
Reminds me of Matthew Arnold's Culture & Anarchy (1869), where he discusses the agitations of his time in terms of The Barbarians and the Philistines. The Barbarians are the aristocrats who pursue enlightenment and individual perfection, whereas the Philistines represent the middle classes who pursue wealth for its own sake, and seek to "do as they like."
Sadly, I cannot think of an effective political message (ie clear, coherent and intelligible to the ordinary bus passenger) that could persuade a majority of the savages and Barbarians to vote for it. “Take back control” sort of worked, but turned out to be meaningless rhetoric.
Take Back Control was genius.
Very insightful, David.
It is easy to assume, as a British citizen, that the barbarians are everywhere out in the dark, muttering, as you said.
Whereas in fact across the West, they are storming the city walls. Think Donald Trump in America, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, the AfD in Germany, and even Marine Le Pen in France (although she seems rather old fashioned and almost civilised compared with those others!).
It is the "civilised" , the Establishment, who are deeply threatened in most Western countries. The future, for barbarians, seems rather hopeful!
Time will tell. I'm always a little wary about commenting on affairs overseas because I don't really have the expertise. In some ways I think we we were in a really good position, comparatively, in 2019 in which there was underway a genuine transition to a proper British style of populism. But we all know what put the kibosh on that...
Personally, I am hoping for the end of Party politics altogether. In governance it is the root of all corruption.
I agree... though perhaps for different reasons. In our time, democratic party political pluralism has become more illusion than reality. Why? Because all 'politcal' roads now lead inevitably somehow to the same place - bureaucracy and 'experts'. "our modern advanced societies are just stuck with their modern equivalent of Dickens’ Circumlocution Office. Stuck with both its dreary nannying state bureaucracy and its late-stage-capitalist blah blah." I see no 'solution' though.
How we all laughed at 'Yes, Minister'..........
Going off at a complete tangent your comment puts me in mind of Bob Monk house: "My friends laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian..... They're not laughing now."
Yes, I agree. My heart sank when David implied that the Tory Party should be the answer if it were only to think straight.
Edmund Burke warned of the danger of political parties back in the 18th century - he said that elections needed to be 'free' by which he meant that there should be freedom to nominate a candidate and that anyone elected should be answerable only to his constituents.
Now, financial requirements to stand and the two party system mean only those backed by a party with assets can afford to stand for election.
It stands to reason that if you owe your position as an MP to the backing of a political party - they are your boss (via the Whip) and you do as you are told. MPs are not called lobby fodder for nothing.
Burke was writing at a very different time, when electorates were very small and when people were habituated to governing their own affairs and public policy basically concerned trade and warfare. I like the Burkean ideal, but we have to accept that is an ideal and not the reality which we currently inhabit.
Yes, this is the nub of the problem - size! Often people dismiss the idea of a Swiss style democracy with a resigned, "but we are a much bigger population". This is the issue we need to address.
There's a great book - about the philosophy of architecture - called 'A Pattern Language' by Alexander, Ishikawa and Silverstein, which highlights how humans need to be at the centre of their lives and part of something that is NOT TOO BIG! Otherwise it becomes de-humanising and chaotic. Once bee colonies get to a certain size, for example, they divide into two colonies. Once empires get too big, they collapse.
We are ignoring human scale in our political systems. The Founding Fathers of the United States had the right idea when they created the states - having their own governance, separate to and independent of the Federal government.
We need to federalise - like Switzerland - break our governance down into human scale entities and have Independent representatives in the governing assemblies - representatives who actually REPRESENT the citizens they serve.
Then we can achieve the Burkean ideal.
Sadly, we are stuck with the Tories I think.
Time will inevitably tell.
This will be the big question after the election, but my money is on the Tory party being successfully reinvented, rather than new political parties making real headway. This is what the Tory party has done repeatedly throughout its history, and I think the pattern will repeat. We shall see in due course!
The political realignment is nascent in the UK, which the 2019 election and subsequently Matt Goodwin’s polling consistently shows. Boris is simply too Establishment (Eton, Telegraph, Spectator) and was too temperamentally weak to follow it through. He also had a parliamentary party stuffed with wets from Cameron’s Blairite reforms. Annihilation may open the door to a Tory leader with the thirst for power and imperviousness to incessant MSM name-calling to pull off the realignment. Then they have to defeat the blob once in power. Trump is far enough outside the Establishment, has the vanity and the thick skin, to take a second run at the Deep State, which went knees-to-chest to stymie him first time, then juiced the election to oust him. He has just purged the RNP and is forcing the full realignment of US politics. His polling suggests there is an unstoppable majority of barbarians. How he gets on against the Deep State will tell us much about how a government formed in 2029 by a realigned Tory party will get on delivering.
I didn't make any prediction about how long it would take...