It was a straightforward political point. “Labour comes out in favour of keeping free movement – an utter betrayal of traditional working-class people, the majority of whom oppose it and voted to end it in the referendum. The party will pay a heavy, but deserved, price for this at the ballot box.” This was my tweet after Labour had declared its support for the Common Market 2.0 proposal earlier this week.
Cue hordes of offendotrons, utterly certain that my use of the term “traditional” was really a euphemism for “white”.
Leading the charge was ‘literal communist’ Ash Sarkar, who fulminated:
“‘Traditional working-class’ jesus fucking christ Paul, just say ‘white’ with ya whole chest.”
Others from the woke Left quickly joined the fray.
My critics were, of course, unwittingly betraying their own deep prejudice. Did they really believe that the term ‘traditional working class’ by definition excluded all those without white skin – such as, say, the thousands of Commonwealth immigrants who arrived here over half a century ago and found work in manual industries or our public services? Apparently they did.
It’s true that the term is not especially tightly defined. Nonetheless, so extensively has it been used over the years in political discourse and throughout the media – including by Left-wingers such as the Guardian’s Owen Jones – as well as wider society, it is fair to argue that it is broadly understood to refer to that social group which is older; often politically tribal; either currently or at least once employed in blue-collar labour; and usually located in the post-industrial areas of Britain, though prevalent in rural and coastal communities too.
This group is rooted, patriotic, communitarian in outlook, often holding small ‘c’ conservative views on social and cultural issues. As with all social classes in the UK, it is mainly white, but certainly not exclusively so.
The results of a BBC class survey in 2013 showed that 9% of this group came from an ethnic minority background, only slightly lower than the total percentage of the UK’s ethnic minority population at the time.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeI’ll be very pleased to see the demise of stag and hen parties to Prague, shopping weekends to New York and naff beach weddings on Caribbean islands. I’ll be very upset if I can’t visit my grandchildren in Australia (for which I’m prepared to pay extra to offset my CO2 emissions).
” ….. his doomy vision of the medium-term future, is, unfortunately for us, worried over at the highest levels of British, American and European strategic thought.” I’d be interested to know where. Does Johnson’s cabinet discuss this?
Higher than that, much higher
Excellent, Giles. Travel to distant parts should be an occasional and very special treat, perhaps for longer periods. That way much can be absorbed and learnt.
I spent five months in Israel in my mid ’20’s and that was a very enriching and enlightening experience. So was a month in Nepal ten years ago. I can’t pretend my other holiday jaunts abroad would not equally have been well spent in the UK
There is a typo in the name behind the abbreviation GRECE. It should be «Le Groupement de recherche et d’études pour la civilisation européenne».
I would be interesting in knowing the title of the book on modern Ukraine on Michael Gove’s bookshelf next to his copies of Faye’s work. I was very impressed by English historian Richard Sawka’s 2015 book “Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands”, but it is a little dated now and I would be interested in reading a more up-to-date work. Sawka makes no mention of Olenya Somenyaka, but does discuss the Azov Battalion and its sinister founder, Andriy Biletsky. I agree that it does speak well of Gove that he takes an interest in modern Ukraine, because the continuing war in the Donbas is one of the major threats to European security.
For all UnHerd’s claim about thinking differently, so often it’s just a bunch of lazy reactionary views repackaged as something pushing against the status quo.
It’s nice to know Giles Fraser is against the spread of science, knowledge and ideas.
Of course he’d claim is wasn’t, but whether people like it or not that would be the result of his wish for people to ‘stay put’.
Of course he has no intention of giving up any of the privileges and benefits he’s gained from others who didn’t ‘stay put’, he’s just like to deny them to others.
Giles Fraser is on record as supporting open borders, so unless he’s done a complete 180, he’s saying it’s great for everyone to move everywhere on a permanent basis but terrible to do it just for a visit.
A case of typing before thinking I suspect.
Fascinating! So agree with opinions – redolent of Rupert Sheldrake’s work The Presence of the Past – morphic fields etc. Read it!
As a former runner turned hiker and backpacker, I see another potential convert. Had to quit running for medical reasons, and now I’m discovering native American artifacts on desert backpacks, enjoying the back country, and looking for other places to visit on foot. Be careful, your footpaths may become another tourist destination.