There is one narrative around this election that the media has conveniently chosen to ignore.

The entire Thatcher myth has been created that her success was due to appealing to the young, inwardly mobile, progressive & ambitious voter. Versus the old Labour Party that was seen as representing the traditional fault lines in UK politics.

It’s clear (and quantifiable provable) that the modern Labour Party attracts the younger, more than educated, more progressive voter. Yet this is now being spun as not understanding “the will of the British people”

Apparently now to be educated, or to be young, or to be progressive is something to apologise for. The modern Tory party appeals to the fearful, the angry, the left behinds. And there are many.

But let’s not fall into a myth that this is because the Labour Party is a party of yesterday. It is precisely by setting themselves as anti-progress, anti-young & anti-mobility that the Conservative Party has captured the vote it has.

I’m not making a value judgement on it. But the modern Labour Party looks forward & gets castigated for it. The modern Conservative Party looks backwards & gets lauded for it (Churchill, “British” values, statues, Empire).

The modern “yuppie” is hated by the Conservative Party (it’s the educated, metropolitan elite that they hold up as the bogeyman). The demographics of the two parties have changed.

Now it’s the Tories who are the backwards looking, traditional, yesterday party that the 1979 Labour Party gets criticised for being & was apparently the reason for the Thatcher win.

Thatcher appealed to the youth vote. Johnson actively despises it.

It’s depressing to see that apparently according to Starmers PR, the Conservative govt & the entire media that to be educated, or to be young, or to hold a progressive view on society or climate is now something to be ashamed of & makes on “out of touch” with the country.

Depressing.

I hear constantly about how somehow to live in a city, or to be university educated, or to care about climate change, or to have concern for other humans who aren’t like me (gender, race or colour) is something to be embarrassed about or something that makes one “out of touch”

It’s weird to me as someone who grew up in the 80s that apparently now to be ambitious is something that makes you out of touch with “the will of the people”.