This has been an abysmal decade for Britain. Even if you are sanguine about the economic impact of Brexit, which the public voted for ten years ago today, you cannot argue it has ushered in an era of triumphant governance. There has been policy distraction, endless leadership churn and a huge decline in political trust. As a country, we are poorer and therefore angrier than we were a decade ago.
I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had, on the left and right, where everyone has nodded about the problem of the triple lock, then proceeded to argue for it publicly
Given all this, it is unsurprising that the voters of Makerfield voted for Andy Burnham. In focus groups he represented hope – not so much for a different future but for a return to a nicer past. Reform represents the same, though through the lens of immigration and crime. People want to get back to what things felt like a couple of decades ago, because in tangible and intangible ways life felt better then.
That is jarring to write. For my whole life, and probably yours too, we have assumed that we would do at least as well as our parents, and our children would do better than us. Individual circumstances might intervene, but if we did the right thing by our family, they would thrive.
