Drawing on his background as a firefighter and trade unionist from Dagenham, Paul Embery argues that this disconnect has been inevitable since the Left political establishment swallowed a poisonous brew of economic and social liberalism. They have come to despise traditional working-class values of patriotism, family and faith and instead embraced globalisation, rapid demographic change and a toxic, divisive brand of identity politics. Embery contends that the Left can only revive if it speaks once again to the priorities of working-class people by combining socialist economics with the cultural politics of belonging, place and community.
No one who wants to really understand why our politics has become so dysfunctional and what the Left can do to fix it can afford to miss this authentic, insightful and passionate book.Table of Contents
AcknowledgementsIntroduction
Notes
1 The Gathering Storm
The rise of the cultural revolutionaries
Nowhere else to go?
The Brexit revolt
Liberals versus the masses
Notes
2 We Need to Talk About Immigration
A community fragments
The far-right takes advantage
Pressure on wages: time for an honest discussion
Going backwards on productivity
The myth of a prejudiced Britain
It’s not just the economy, stupid
Notes
3 A New National Religion: Liberal Wokedom
The dead end of identity politics
Whiteness as original sin
Competing priorities
Why multiculturalism has failed
The gender identity madness
Free speech imperilled
The tyranny of the woke slacktivists
Debasing our language
The tightening grip of the law
Politicians run for cover
The presumption of guilt
The intolerance of the ‘tolerant’
Notes
4 The Case for the Nation State
Democracy devalued
Globalisation meets resistance
Turning the tide: challenging the power of global capitalism
Understanding the patriotism of the working classes
A meaningful citizenship
England forgotten: a tale of national dispossession
Notes
5 What is to Be Done?
Looking and sounding like Labour again
A radical economic policy
The importance of vocation
Promoting social stability and solidarity
Climbing the mountain
Notes
Index
