To wonder how much (if at all) 90s lad culture has driven support for the likes of Farage and Reform?

[swallowthelightonthestairs]

Did it create a coterie of rather backward looking blokes who now, in their 40s and 50s, now somehow feel they're hard done by in the modern world?

I don't see a connection between 90s lad culture and Reform, nor connect lad culture with men feeling hard done by.

I think it might be the men you are associating with OP

Ooh interesting discussion point - i presume you are thinking about amongst other things, the 'we're a gang, women not allowed, others excluded' culture, fighting seen as a pasttime, that sort of thing?

I am not sure that’s the case (though was shocked to learn Jenrick is only 44.)

I think it’s more modern but the gender split is interesting.

Having just listened to one of the Mumsnet founders on Naga Munchetty (Radio 5Live) talking about how 20% of Mumsnet users (obvs mostly women) would vote for Reform, beating Labour and the Tories, I think the connection you suggest is clearly not the major issue! 🤷

I lived through the 90s

i’m not sure I see a connection.

the Brexit voter skewed older.

the older you were the more likely to vote for Brexit

Interesting theory but I don’t think so.

90’s lad culture was a throwback to a much earlier time and was always a bit tongue in cheek. It was blokes trying to push back at a feminism which was already pretty entrenched by the 90s.

Most of the self styled “lads” were nice middle class boys who were doing it for attention/their careers. I don’t think it ran that deep.

Farage and Reform are much darker and more serious than a bunch of blokes in the media reading Loaded for shits and giggles.

I saw the earlier 40% and thought that was very high! Made MN users an outlier among women but 20% seems more reasonable.

(Yes, sorry, it was a typo - I corrected it luckily before the editing 'window' was over)

I was a lad growing up in the 90s and I would never vote Reform, so on that basis I would say no

There are individuals like Martin Daubney who edited Loaded magazine and later was a member of the Brexit Party but I think politically Lad culture came from the Left and the Right.
Labour co-opted Brit pop which celebrated the same themes and artists such as Jarvis Cocker Fat Boy Slim are politically from the Left, and there were Left wing pop stars and comedians such as Stuart Lee, Jeremy Hardy are from the same era.
There has also always been’wokebro’ culture or performative ‘trendy activism’ as the arts are often associated with Left wing politics.

Could be argue if they still had the lads mags to look it they'd have less time to be bellends.

Reform are the most popular party amongst men and women. More men than women support Reform but more men than women also support Labour. It's complicated and I don't think lad culture has a lot to do with it.

I don’t know any middle aged right wing men harkening back to the heady ole days of the 90s. If anything, they’d probably consider that very hedonistic and too woke for them now.

I think this is about (a) changing economic times where traditional men’s roles are not valued as much as they once were and (b) social isolation, meaning many middle aged men are spending a lot of time going down rabbit holes on the internet, becoming obsessed with YouTube and X, but lacking the critical thinking skills that younger generations might possess about the internet, and being radicalised for lack of a better word.

There is a thread in "site stuff" on which MNHQ explains more about how the research was conducted. Very interesting, have a look.

Honestly, I would say that it's in part because for at least 15-20 years, there have been known issues where young white boys were statistically underperforming at school, but absolutely nothing was done about it.

There have long been initiatives and money thrown at other demographics (get girls into sport/STEM, for example, or people of colour into other subjects as part of diversity drives). These ABSOLUTELY should have happened. (and I'm putting that in bold because I know someone will mis-read and whinge).

But I can also see how young boys may have grown up feeling that everything is their fault, they're not good enough or no one cares about what they need. Those generations are the ones who have turned to the likes to Andrew Tate.

From a reform-voting perspective, the only ones I can see willing to vote for them are the older generations who cannot accept that times/societies are changing. They weren't the ones influenced by lad culture./

I suppose that, right now, unfortunately 20% of the English population would vote Reform also. It might go down, but we do need to expose the lies eg that crime rates have gone up, when the reverse is true. That immigration has gone up, when it’s gone down. There’s a lot to do, because they lie and gaslight about everything.