In 2013, at the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture, Boris Johnson said inequality is essential to fostering "the spirit of envy" & hailed greed as a "valuable spur to economic activity".
The damaged, lying, opportunistic hypocrite also demonised Romanians.
Johnson warned that the accession of Romania to the EU meant that London could do nothing to stop the "entire population of Transylvania" from "pitching their tents in Marble Arch".
Romania's foreign minister expressed his outrage at "xenophobic, populist" politicians in the UK.
The deregulatory free-market ideology that he & his catastrophic & cruel Government subscribe to seem to relish deepening inequality, & in his speech he warned that the growing competition Britain faced in a globalised economy meant that inequality would deepen.
He said: "No one can ignore the harshness of that competition, or the inequality that it inevitably accentuates, & I am afraid that violent economic centrifuge is operating on human beings who are already very far from equal in raw ability, if not spiritual worth."
It's refreshing to hear @Conservatives state that competition inevitably accentuates inequality. It's what they all believe & accept, so it's interesting to hear him talk about "levelling up" - as though the harshness of free-market capitalism could always have been minimised.
Johnson called for the rich to be hailed for their contribution to paying for public services. "an awful lot of schools and roads and hospitals that are being paid for by the super-rich. So why, I asked innocently, are they so despicable in the eyes of all decent British people?"
"It seems to me that though it would be wrong to persecute the rich... & futile to stamp out inequality".
On Europe, he said it was "time we sorted out the working time directive & time we generally persuaded the Eurocrats to stop trying to tell us what to do".
Johnson said Thatcher would recognise "that England has been so far short-changed by devolution" & give the cities "more powers to raise locally the taxes they spend locally [and] give the politicians an incentive to go for policies that promote growth".
Johnson added: "We may not have many gunboats any more, but we hardly need them, because we are already fulfilling our destiny as the soft power capital of the world".
This was, of course, before Johnson came to power & annihilated Britain's global reputation & soft power.
Fewer than 3 in 10 of the electorate voted for Boris Johnson's Tories in 2019.
Would you buy a cat food if 7 out of 10 cats thought it was shit?
Johnson has already been a catastrophe for Britain, & tragically, he's not done yet.
Voters need to know how right-wing populist nationalist politicians and radical/far-right nativist extremists construct their divisive discourse and rhetoric to exploit the anti-elite climate and fuel violence and division - and what to do about it.
So what can be done to counter divisive narratives and framing and to help Britain to become a more open, inclusive, fairer, less polarised and better multicultural society?
I make several suggestions in the above article, but make more below,
Countering the extreme right’s narrative of feeling "attacked" and needing to "defend" national identity requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach that challenges their framing while addressing underlying concerns and emotions.
The shameless lie that "Britain is lawless" is categorically false, as it contradicts empirical data on crime trends, rule of law metrics, and the functioning of UK institutions. Reform UK often use fearmongering exaggeration and selective framing to create a sense of crisis.
Official data from the ONS and Home Office indicate that overall crime rates in England and Wales have fluctuated but do not support the notion of a "lawless" state. The ONS reported a 7% decrease in total recorded crime (excluding fraud) from 2023 to 24.
#OnThisDay, 21 July, 1969, the Chicago Daily News published: The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
It began: One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
I reproduce it, below.
Harris was born in London in 1917, moving to the US in 1922. A formidable journalist who established a distinct voice integrating incisive social commentary with wit and humour, his weekday column, ‘Strictly Personal’, was syndicated in 200 US newspapers.
The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
That attitude is the main reason America was founded, in all its hope and energy and goodness.
A few thoughts on Bob Vylan leading the #GlastonburyFestival crowd in chants of "Death to the IDF" (Israeli Defence Force), livestreamed by the @BBC, and the mischaracterisation of the chant by some MPs, news media, and activists.
In England, where #GlastonburyFestival is located, all of us have the right to freely express our criticism of anyone or anything - as long as there is no intent to provoke immediate unlawful violence or there is a reasonable likelihood it will occur as a consequence.
In England, free speech is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, inciting violence is a criminal offence under several laws which attempt to balance public safety with free expression rights.
In many countries, especially since Musk bought Twitter/@X, underregulated online extreme content has been used to groom and radicalise vulnerable people.
Too many cowardly politicians are scared to speak up for fear of being branded 'anti-free speech'.
Some MPs who have been in parliament for many years NEVER appear on any of the @BBC's "flagship" politics shows - but Reform's privately educated shit-stirring 'anti-elite' former Tory Sarah Pochin - an MP for FIVE WEEKS - gets her own special introduction on #PoliticsLive.
Politicians using dangerously irresponsible anti-Muslim rhetoric know their comments are normalising Islamophobia and endanger British Muslim women. Islamophobic incidents rose by 375% in the week after Boris Johnson called veiled Muslim women “letterboxes” in 2018.
#PolitcsLive
Britain prides itself in NOT being the sort of country that tells women how to dress. States that do dictate women’s clothing (eg Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) are vilified as misogynistic & ultra-controlling: the antithesis of the enlightened, liberal west. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…