Thread by @sandyofipswich

The point is that you can’t establish the validity of a proposition by getting people to vote on it - if 54% did not accept that 13 was the square root of 169 it wouldn’t stop it from being true. What democracy does is show what the majority feel- if they feel that they are being

https://twitter.com/mrjamesob/status/1324616215977971712

...ignored then those who have decision-making powers need to work out how to re-engage with those people. Trump supporters haven’t suddenly stopped supporting him. Brexit voters haven’t suddenly started to feel sympathetic to the EU. There is a huge piece of work to do in US and

....UK in deciphering exactly what has led people to feel the way they do and to build a society where those feelings of alienation are no longer being stoked. Part of that has to be about our media, including social media, finding ways to separate opinion from outright lies. And

...part of it needs to be actual policy changes. Ex-industrial heartlands must see for themselves that they are included in the national programme of renewal - in the Red Wall constituencies and in the Rust Belt. Homes matter. Jobs matter.
And part of it is about identity.....

....The left, including the centre-left, has allowed itself to become weighed down by an attitude to identity which excludes a large portion of the voters. It’s ok to be proud to be a man, so long as you fully support women’s equality and recognise that there is still a way to go

...to achieve it. As a gay man I am happy to declare my sexuality but I fully support straight men’s right to be comfortable about theirs. White people should not feel ashamed of their ethnic background- what they should do is celebrate their commitment to race equality by

...championing the struggle for equal treatment and respect and opportunity for black people and people of colour. Straight white middle-aged men can be a proud part of a democratic socialist future too - we just need to make sure they get that message.