Yeah, the Nazis are probably the most obvious example but there have been numerous Nationalist regimes that would have used similar rhetoric- Salazar's Portugal, fascist Italy, Peron's Argentina, the Balkan regimes of the 90's, Francoist Spain. Identifying the outsider as an enemy is a key element of Nationalism. Spain is perhaps the most pertinent example for me as one of the main causes of the Spanish Civil War is often identified as being the polarisation of society in the 20s and early 30s. In fact, to re-use Gary's analogy, the rise of the Communists and the far right in inter-war Germany was aided by the weakness of the centre ground in the Weimar Democracy. While I'm not saying we're going to have a civil war, those examples show how dangerous polarised politics can be. Timothy Snyder from Yale was on Channel 4 News recently talking about how the use of political ideas and propaganda from the 1920s and 30s is on the rise across the globe. He noted that that kind of politics is not about reasoned dispute towards constructive policy but is in fact fundamentally about friends and enemies. This is what concerns me about responses like Lineker's because it sharpens that idea of us and them, good and bad, friends and enemies. It doesn't combat Braverman's nationalism, it fuels it.
Meanwhile, as people are debating the nuances and intonation of something a former footballer who works for the BBC said, Bonko has installed a bloke who "loaned" him £800k as chairman of the BBC and is making his dad a Sir. Braverman is making up policies that she knows breaks international law, and Sunak is driving the economy over a cliff edge. It is called deflection.
I'd put good money on Lineker lasting longer in his job than Braverman does in hers ... ... she's been a disaster with the immigration issue, no progress, failed with Rwanda and now Sunak has had to jump in to hold her hand.
According to Braverman the various plans have been brilliant and each one only foiled by a bunch of lefty lawyers ... ... despite the Government's top team of lawyers spending months making sure they were foolproof. "We'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids!"
There are only 3 countries prepared to break international law. One is the UK, the other 2 are Russia and North Korea. Some company we are keeping there mind
HS2 delayed 2 more years. Will someome just stop it for crying out loud. Fix the existing railways instead eh.
Should never have been started, doomed to failure from the off ... .. and how are things going with Boris's yacht BTW.
We really are going back to being an insular island state thinking we can return to the days of Empire ... ... except the sun never rises on our brave new world.
I am normally all for the big infrastructure projects. Good for all sorts of reasons. This was always lacking in benefits. Good soundbites like enabling northern powerhouse cities. Was never about that. Northern powerhouses dont need gimicks. Encourage investment from overseas or build stuff and the north will always attract big business.
