To think there is some kind of weird push towards the far right?

[Checkcheckout]

I’m the first to admit that I am not the best informed - I prefer to keep my life stress free and simple as much as possible, and don’t have a TV, don’t read papers, and only listen to the radio when I’m driving (which is quite often). For my own mental health I prefer to live in my own little bubble.

But even with my limited exposure to media, I’ve noticed on Radio 2, both on the news and Jeremy Vine’s show, Reform are being given so much air time considering their paltry amount of MPs, the polls are being discussed regularly even though we’re years from an election. More than once listening to the radio I’ve thought the way they’re talking makes it sound like Reform winning the next election is a done deal, and thought to myself that this is how self fulfilling prophecies happen.

My algorithms on FB are seriously messed up. Despite having never been remotely interested in anything in the least bit right wing, all of a sudden I’m getting endless posts from knuckle dragging ‘patriot’ groups that I don’t even follow, with really horrendous and openly racist comments, thousands of them, which somehow FB are allowing to remain even though any kind of hate speech has always been censored on there. Why are these posts suddenly being allowed and pushed in my face?

Alongside this there seems to be a new story pretty much every day about the latest scandal involving Labour (again reported by the BBC), ok these things aren’t great although compared to the Tories’ rap list from their last spell in government, are fairly small fry really. It seems like there’s an active push for people to rebel away from the left just as the far right are gaining momentum.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I talking shite?

Deputy Prime Minister effectively avoiding payment of stamp duty - c£40k; Prime Minister denying that he knew about Peter Mandelson’s past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein and now admitting to having emails…. Yes, yes, all ‘small fry’. And not to mention the country going to shit because of a chancellor who lied on her CV about both of her main jobs prior to this (was in customer service and not economic advisory), was close to getting kicked out of one of these job for spending too much time on politics and not enough time on the job, and in the most devastating economic growth crushing way continuing to raise taxes…

So lies, and more lies, and you’re wondering why there is a surge to the right?

Yes, all just small fry

"To think there is some kind of weird push towards the far right?"

I can't imagine why that might be, it's a mystery.

The dam just broke.

I think this attitude is part of the problem. The right thinking they are “brighter” than the left.

To be fair, it isn't hard is it?

The whole not knowing what men and women are thing as just the one example. I mean if someone is confused about the very basics of reality then they are obviously pretty stupid.

So your average beer swillin' redneck/chav, with three teeth, who couldn't point to his own Country on a map already has a bit of a head start.

And you know, they just let those fuckers vote AND have opinions, just like the civilised real people in Chelsea.

They are getting a bit gobby at the moment as well aren't they? Those goddam peasants. 😁

Honestly the left never learn. There’s no ‘push’. It’s how many people, actually feel. Why can people on the left never imagine any other viewpoint but their own. Always has to be some sort of ‘interference’

I've noticed the same op ,but I'm a bit more in to the news .
I think reform have some policy where any millionaires can pay a £20,000 one of tax payment and then not have to pay again.
So news channels and newspapers are owned by millionaires...so..
That's my understanding anyway

You are correct
I am vegan and typically so ,always voted green .
Then the Edinburgh rape crisis centre,and they got involved in that .
And slowly I realise they are not the party I thought they were
So I'm politically homeless..and none of them currently get my vote

I have noticed negative comments from people I know and used to like becoming increasingly rascist in tone, did I not notice before or has it got worse - either way I’m feeling very down about it. And the flags - what the fuck is that all abou? Depressing. It’s like someone has lanced a boil and all the puss is being released, we’ve been containing their hatred

That's the spirit!

Racists needing a scapegoat? The biased media, which doesn't report in a balanced way? Racists echo chambers of social media? The rich get richer, but hey, let's blame immigrants for this. Old as the world.

It sounds mad, but this push is coming from there - and other places, but I bet they all trace back to Russia/China. I remember The Times doing a series of articles on Putin's strategy of randomly supporting fringe political movements all over Europe, especially far right activists. He hosted 'nationalist party' leaders from several countries, including the UK, and similar people from the USA. Pumped a lot of support into them.

Putin's strategy isn't particularly in support of right wing and nationalist groups. He supports other divisive elements as well, it's just that the right-wingers are achieving more visibility. The apparent aim is, as you said OP, to sow discontent and to create internal conflict in the countries he wishes to weaken. When people lose faith in their governments and mistrust their neighbours, the population becomes easier to control.

He does this within Russia, too. He sneakily throws funding and resources at various nuisance groups - religious, political dissenters or rebellious artists, etc - and at their opponents if they have any. When people in that region have started getting nervous or forming protests either in favour or against the supported groups, he charges in to clamp down on the unrest. The annoying organisations suddenly lose their backup and are exposed as anti-Russian troublemakers.

I'm going to confess I've sometimes wondered whether the gender movement has benefited from Russian backchannel support. It already has home-grown billionaire funding, but it does have the kind of anti-establishment qualities he likes to leverage.

It's a real pity, imo, that the Russian interference in Brexit, the 2014 Scottish referendum and the last two general elections was downplayed. While people feel a bit lost politically and are trying to understand what's happening, it would be helpful to know that our opinions are being shaped by people saying one thing but actually doing what Russia tells them to.

Parliamentary Briefing, 2025
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9472/

Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-russian-federation-is-increasing-its-malign-activities-and-interference-uk-statement-to-the-osce

Government condemns Russia’s sustained attempts at political interference in the UK and globally, 2023
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-exposes-attempted-russian-cyber-interference-in-politics-and-democratic-processes

Government acknowledges for the first time that Russians interfered in the UK's democratic processes, 2020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53433523

Yes, this was my first thought, especially when OP said knuckle dragger.

There is no weird push towards the far right. There is a very clear political and economic push from the far right.

The media is in the hands of companies with a right wing political agenda. In the UK, the Tories destroyed the country but the media expects Starmer to fix it in a few months - they are relentless in their bombardment of news taking the country further to the right.

It's not just the UK, it's the same everywhere in the "democratic" world. I've said it many times - as global resources dwindle and Asia becomes a powerhouse economically, the push for autocracy in the West is the only way for neoliberalism to keep making billions.

Social media is so dangerous. People no longer have as many real life conversations where they talk, listen and learn to moderate their views. They just get into an echo chamber where their views are nurtured and
amplified (left or right!). I’m left leaning and although I’ve left Facebook (and am 100% happier for it) my Instagram just constantly feeds me what I want to see. I have to actively look for alternative views because I don’t want to live in a bubble.

Well, you've certainly been captured. Hook, line and sinker. Hope you read the rest of the thread and realise how you'e been manipulated.

This, good post.

There’s a big difference between leaning conservative or full blown reform.

Remember that the media is owned by right-wing billionaires, who will of course go all out to make Labour look bad, so they will always push towards the right.

Take this far right march for example... it looks massive, I think it had like 100k people attending which seems very scary. But in reality it's dwarfed by demonstrations against brexit, and even climate change marches.
And anti-lockdown marches: I went on several of them myself, with numbers easily in the hundreds of thousands. But as it was something we weren't "allowed" to discuss, that paragon of truth the BBC reduced them to "a couple of hundred conspiracy theorists on Speaker's Corner", if it mentioned the marches at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/16/for-some-minority-britons-the-unite-the-kingdom-rally-shows-far-right-politics-is-becoming-legitimised

You have to ask who is running the media

I started a thread about basically this the other day - specifically about why so many women are going along with it when right wing extremists are no fans of women either.

The depressing answer was that so many women, on Mumsnet at least, are so rabid in their hatred of trans women they will throw their support behind anyone who panders to it, even if that cause also hates women. Madness.

Cue trans frothing in 3…2….1…..

À la brexit, social media is doing all the heavy lifting and targeting (predictably) white British men and making them feel like they’re a part of something and that they’ll “stand for their country”, whatever that means because they won’t be able to explain it to you either.

DP is white British and while he doesn’t do social media he’s on YT a lot and it’s absolutely flooded. Every other video was the march.

Even here there’s been a lot of unusual far right defending. And if you don’t agree with it, you’re automatically labelled as “the left”, like there’s no room for anything else.

I also think the resurgence of Christianity is linked to the growth of the far right. Too bad it’s all American type of Christianity.

there has been a push to the right in france and netherlands for some time.

For those of you, mostly white, I’m assuming who are claiming that the march on Saturday wasn’t fundamentally a far right protest. Attending a rally that was organised by someone who has openly far right views makes you as a racist apologist at best.

I was in London on Saturday and I felt intimidated by men wrapped in flags shouting ‘Kier Starmer’s a c..t’ and pissed. I am no fan of the man and agree Labour has a lot to do (and got a lot wrong) but legitimatising the far right is not the way to go about it.

YANBU op.
Most people (especially those of the right!) don’t realise that the very things they claim to be ultra aware of are actually happening in their very midsts- to them. There are plenty of people trying to control the flow of information and public opinion online that have a lot to gain by pushing forward a rightwing political agenda. I don’t think Joe Public realise how much they are being played by the forces controlling the media and the internet. It’s ignorance at its finest…!