I think the current political scene is interesting.
The lesson of the last 10 years is that, ultimately, populism delivers nothing from whichever pole it comes, simply because it cannot deliver.
Populism is about misdiagnosing problems and prescribing fake remedies that appeal to bigotry (usually blaming an 'othered' group), and do not and cannot ever materially impact people's lives in a positive way.
We've had the mendacious populism of Vote Leave promising a solution to health care and housing bottlenecks if only we "take back control", and the hijacking of it by the Tory party when they decided to ride that wave.
We've had Corbyn's populism, making promises he could not keep nor have any idea how to deliver (Corbyn is a male Liz Truss) and literally preferring being cheered by a self-selecting audience to putting himself up to scrutiny (recall how tetchy he got when pressed on any issue). He is also responsible for Brexit, not only with his silence during the campaign, but also his unwillingness and inability to counter the lies of the Leave campaign.
I like to think and I hope that we are in the dying days of UK populism. Despite unprecedented funds pouring into the Tory party and hard harigh lobby groups with opaque funding, it is clear the electorate has had enough. They want real rather than imaginary change. Real policies rather than performative nonsense like Rwanda plan, and above all they seem to be realising that they have been had by the governing party of the last 14 years.
It is certainly true that Labour have benefitted from Tory ineptitude, but it is also remarkable that in less than 4 years Starmer had pulled the party together into a credible cohesive force.
I hope that he continues to not only dodge the populist barbs flying out of the Tory party, but resists the temptation to throw any back.
We have 6 months left of this toxic administration. I'll be staying up on election night and hoping the we will see the beginning of a move away from what political life and social discourse has become.
