I've spent many a happy hours chatting to people with whom I have little in common politically. And allthough it can be a little unnerving sometimes, there's a lot of learning in it. I've yarned with Trump supporters, UKIP supporters, Tories - all sorts. Sometimes I come away really angry. Other times I come away with food for thought.
And so it was this morning.
We didn't get off to a great start, me and the kipper. He believes that the mess in the NHS is down to health tourism. I believe it is down to tories. So we bantered back and forth for a while and eventually, we drilled down into things that we can say we have in common.
We are both workers, both single parents, both worked through college, both from relatively disadvantaged areas.
He is from a Labour voting family, and by the sounds of things, the loyalty to Labour has been severely tested. As a result, himself and other members of the family have moved their loyalty to UKIP. The two reasons that emerged were that Labour took them for granted and immigration. There were probably other things too, around welfare reform, for example.also But loud and clear came the message 'establishment politicians don't listen to working class people's concerns. As he said, UKIP saw the opportunity and capitalised on it.
It's really hard to argue with him.
I am Labour through and through and nothing would take me over to the UKIP dark side. I have been a migrant worker - leaving home at 18 to try and get a job in England. Admittedly, it's not half way round the world (although it felt like it in the days before we routinely used planes). But the feeling of being the outsider was real enough. Much as I loved my new home in England, I was often homesick. So I get why people move.
But, i also get why people get annoyed, especially when times are hard and when there are political opportunists waiting to pounce on the anger.
For a very long time, working class people have seen an erosion of their rights and the things that made their lives secure. Industries disappeared, job security is an aspiration rather than a given, council house building dried up, hospitals closed or were run into the ground, incomes have been squeezed, schools underfunded, social services under pressure, the social security safety net has all but disappeared - virtually all the things that made life a little more bearable have become scarce or non existent.
For decades, most of this has passed with little comment. Occasional bursts of resistance aside, the gradual erosion of peoples security has not really been remarked upon in the places where decisions are made. But there will be a day of reckoning. How it will play out is anyone's guess but it will happen
For decades, most of this has passed with little comment. Occasional bursts of resistance aside, the gradual erosion of peoples security has not really been remarked upon in the places where decisions are made. But there will be a day of reckoning. How it will play out is anyone's guess but it will happen
