• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Tribal Britain: The government needs it, we don’t

The exploitation of resentment and selfishness has become central to politics in Britain today.

Guest Contributor by Guest Contributor
2020-06-03 11:16
in Opinion
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

By John Simms

The government bears ultimate responsibility for the state of the nation right? If we emerge from the Coronavirus crisis blaming each other and not the government’s poor response it will be a new low for British tribalism. The sad thing is, they really want us to do exactly that. It will be a sad state of affairs, a government that has somehow managed to shirk responsibility for, well,  everything by exploiting us and our resentment. Resentment that originates with their failures. 

What began as subtle linguistic manipulation of the electorate has become a one track minded approach of divide and conquer. Having come to rely on blame and the exploitation of resentment as their principle methodology they find themselves in a crisis for which they are plainly responsible and they are struggling to find a convincing response.

The Cameron coalition government

To find the origin of this strategy, re-wind 8 years to the Cameron coalition government. David Cameron was heavily influenced by the psychology of voter manipulation, he formed his “nudge unit” with the goal of influencing the public without them really realising. A small “nudge” in the right direction is more effective than forcing someone. Cameron’s use of language and exploiting our selfish motivations was key to getting popular assent to his government’s austerity measures. He repeatedly brought up the idea of “fairness” in the context of benefits, he allowed voters to feel hard done by, that things were somehow unfair and they needed to be fixed. It worked with great success. 

As any reasonable person might ask, surely any problems with the welfare system are the government’s fault? A 2013 study primarily investigating how they gained popular consent for austerity found that people are far more likely to blame and resent those they meet day to day than the government.  There was a powerful belief in a loss of community and a degradation of society amongst people, a serious element of bitterness, a strong theme of “us and them”. Common scapegoats were the vulnerable, single parents, the disabled and the unemployed. This manifested itself in a serious uptick in resentment towards the vulnerable, the Guardian reported in 2012 that there was a discernible increase in hate crimes and public harassment of the disabled as a result of the government narrative. 

Resentment and selfishness

The exploitation of resentment and selfishness has become so central to politics in today’s Britain that it was pretty much the sole deciding factor in the last election. It was easy and required minimal effort. The current administration plans who to blame even before planning what to do, as if there is an assumption that failure is inevitable. Health workers are blamed for “overusing” PPE, experts are blamed for their “bad” advice, the media are blamed for talking about Dominic Cummings. New guidance from the government urging us to “use our common sense” is an unsubtle attempt to make us blame groups we harbour resentment towards. We can now blame the young, the poor, immigrants or any other other convenient group for breaching social distancing.

The government’s determined exercise in not being responsible for anything at all creates an interesting logical dilemma. They portray themselves as an unfortunate entity, dependent on the judgement and advice of others and removed from responsibility for their own decisions. If this is really the case, what are they for? 

RelatedPosts

Elevenses: The Tractor War

‘Scam’ Cryptocurrencies and the ’looking glass’ world of finance

Elevenses: Stick It To The Politicians

If the local elections tell us anything, it’s that our democracy desperately needs a kiss of life

Related: “I’m not the architect of my misfortune” – why white people should be asking what racism means to them

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

How To Make: Breakfast Spud

Maskless Tories show how ‘issue has been politicised’, expert says

Laurence Fox sparks racist, homophobic abuse of BBC journalist

Would we really give a toss, if she wasn’t a female Kate Moss?

Watch – Car photoshoot on railway tracks shared on TikTok ‘beggars belief’

Johnson on the hunt for another scalp – Rees-Mogg in danger

Coronavirus UK – Teachers’ union accuses Government of creating ‘chaos and confusion’

How To Take Care Of Skin In Summer

Another U-turn? Government now urged to close all schools in England

Knife-wielding man was shot by police in London after stabbing an officer & threatening to kill people

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.