This post nails it about left wing voters on Mumsnet over the last two days

[ProudAmberTurtle]

It's by an ex-academic on X, about posts on Reddit over the last 48 hours but is equally applicable to Mumsnet, where I can seeing posts stating things like:

"How stupid are Reform voters? Don't they realise they'll get fewer benefits?!"

The irony is of course that it's those posters who need to be educated, not the working class voters they mock because they think they're thick.

Here you go:

Reading through Reddit threads in which leftists/progressives express their bewilderment/confusion/fury at working class English voters for casting their lot in with Reform, one of the things I'm starting to understand is this:

They simply do not understand how a government could help working-class people in any other way besides giving them benefits, handouts, and other free things.

Their entire mental architecture is premised upon the premises that

1. Working class people are poor
2. The only way for them to not be poor is for the state to give them free stuff
3. So left-wing parties need to promise them lots of free stuff

Then, when these working-class voters instead vote for right-of-centre parties who instead promise an economy in which they can build a career, start their own business, make a financial success of themselves and start a family, they're confused.

Because, again, in their mental architecture, what the working class are supposed to want is free benefits from the state.

But what they actually want is a fair shake at making their own way in the world, making money, getting on in life.

And the left simply doesn't understand that what these voters want from the state is an economy in which they can actually do this.

x.com/i/status/2053073719086469193

How are you working class?

Working class left wing man o/s letting women know what to be concerned about in the UK.

I don’t think anyone has actually asked you this @RedTagAlan, are you a man? I’m conscious that a few regular female posters have adopted men’s names in the past.

what does o/s mean?

The OP quoted a right wing bloke on X, is that acceptable?

Is that to me ?

Do you want my life history? What council houses I was brought up in ? What ex mining village ? What schools? What trade I learned and what universities I did not go to ?

Is this not a "no true Scotsman" you are playing here. As in " a true working class person would know exactly what I mean".

Well sorry, I don't know what you mean in your posts to me. I can see the dog whistles right enough. More dog whistles on these "Reform" type threads than on "one man and his dog".

So again. What UK cultural things can't UK people do any more ?

Yup. I have a male name, because I am a man. A man of the father variety.

Thank you. I didn’t want some people to end up with egg on their faces if you were actually a woman. There used to be a poster called Bertrand Russell who kept her sex a secret, there were some highly embarrassed people when she eventually revealed she was a woman.

Great use of the word them lol
Othering is so middle class 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A British working class man talking about British politics. And have I said anything about "letting women know what to be concerned about in the UK."?

I am also on the left of politics. And I am posting on a politics thread where the OP general premise is that working class Reform voters are talked down to and insulted by the left.

And here we are.

UK's sense of division reaches new high as culture war tensions grow, study finds

Perceptions of division in the UK have reached their highest point since trends began in 2020, with 84% of the public now saying the country feels divided – up from 79% two years ago and 74% five years ago.

At the same time, the share who believe the nation is divided by “culture wars” specifically has risen by an even greater extent, from 46% in 2020 to 67% today, with most of this increase occurring since 2023, when 54% held this view.

The findings come in a new study carried out by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Ipsos, as part of a research programme that began in 2020, and also reveal a country increasingly nostalgic for the past and uneasy about the pace of cultural change, with tensions rising around immigration.

On top of this, there are growing concerns about the problems caused by culture wars, a deepening rejection of the term “woke”, and notable shifts in attitudes on transgender rights.

Based on a representative survey of 4,027 people aged 16+ using the Ipsos UK online random probability KnowledgePanel, the study finds:

• Half (50%) the public today say the culture in the UK is changing too fast, compared with 35% five years ago, and half (48%) also say they would like their country to be the way it used to be – up from 28% in 2020, with this nostalgia rising among both young and old.
• 64% of the public now agree culture wars are a serious problem for UK society and politics – up from 52% in 2023 and 44% in 2020. And in the last two years, the proportion who strongly agree with this view has doubled from 10% to 20%.
• The share of the public who say they feel proud of their country has dipped below a majority, falling from 56% to 46% in the last five years.
• Perceived tension between immigrants and people born in the UK has risen over the last two years after previously been in decline, increasing from 74% who felt there was tension in 2023 to 86% today.
• But Brexit divides continue to heal – even with 52% still feeling there is tension between Leavers and Remainers, this is down from 58% in 2023 and 78% in 2020.
• The proportion who say transgender rights have gone too far has more than doubled since 2020, from 17% to 39%, though overall there is still no public consensus on the issue.
• Around half (48%) the public now consider “woke” an insult – an increase from 42% in 2023 and 24% back in 2020, as awareness of the term has grown.
• But a majority either do not consider themselves “woke” or “anti-woke” (43%) or don’t know what the terms mean (19%), with around one in five identifying as each.

Part of a long-term research programme into culture wars in the UK, the study uses random probability sampling – the most rigorous survey method available – and involves providing offline households with tablets and internet access, ensuring results represent all of society, not just those already engaged online.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/uks-sense-of-division-reaches-new-high-as-culture-war-tensions-grow-study-finds

I used to be concerned that you might be a woman dragged to live from the UK to an authoritarian country for a man's career - so it's good anyway that (being a man) you probably made the move for your own reasons.

I'm not prying! It's not a question just a comment on my own mistaken assumptions.

No problem. I use the name Alan because I am a man. And I think it would be dishonest of me to try to hide that.

RedTag by the way is not because I am a Red by the way. It's the name of a fishing fly. I happened to have my fly box on my desk when I was signing up. And "BloodyButcherAlan", "WhickhamsFancyAlan", or "GreenWellsGloryAlan" did not seem suitable.

So, you are entitled to question everyone's lived experience ad infinitum to stall this discussion, but someone asks you a simple question, it's an outrage?

I am just wondering how you managed to get a work visa for smwh in the "Far East" (I guess China) without a university degree. Or you're a UK non-working working class man in Asia? And how long have you been there?

Also fascinating how you solely define yourself by your identity rather than your actions. Personal emancipation means that you should not be defined by your identity or origin, but by your actions and your choices.

Quote :"So, you are entitled to question everyone's lived experience ad infinitum to stall this discussion, but someone asks you a simple question, it's an outrage?"

I have not questioned anyone's lived experience. I asked a simple question. "What cultural things can brits not do anymore? "

You are doing an awful lot of fishing instead of answering that in an easy to understand way.

This does seem to be a trend on so many of these Reform type threads. Deflection rather than plain English answers.

China is interesting. I’m guessing people there would recognise we have a culture and not just ‘Morris dancing’ as claimed below. Many even pay a lot to experience it, studying or visiting.

I believe a Chinese person would recognise that we have a culture and we in turn would recognise that they have one. Couldn't imagine anyone asking a Chinese person to justify having a culture or expecting them to list what they can or can't do anymore.

What would be the Chinese equivalent of "Morris dancing" I wonder. It probably would sound like an insult to focus on a fringe activity no longer practiced much in 2026.

The same would be true for someone from South Korea say or Japan.

Totally. I can’t think of it but there would be one. Being that dismissive of just a culture here is prevalent on here, particularly with tying to the subject of this thread.

I think a logical fallacy bingo card might be in order when posting on reform type threads. I just found one. (attached).

Some of these I am not familiar with, but it would be a good way to learn them I reckon.

You and your bingo cards ... they aren't funny.

No they’re not. Plus the same could be said in return about stock lines.

Dear, oh dear, oh dear...

What why? @Twiglets1is just posting as you are.

Net migration is 800k entering the country and 600k leaving. Most the people leaving are wealthy, young or well trained individuals. A majority of people coming in wont provide a net benefit to the economy. This is a terrible economic policy and it has gone on for years.

Agree 100 %. Net migration has gone down, but only because so many talented Brits are leaving.