Denis MacShane, Dolly Parton, Jamie Oliver, Ukip, the BNP and the sex-abuse scandal are connected by a failure of the political classes to deal with the problems faced by those left behind in post-industrial Britain. Political parties have not focused enough on society’s losers, finding it more expedient to chase the swing voter and morally easier to call for multiculturalism. What we are now seeing with the rise of Ukip, however, is that dodging the hard issues is socially corrosive and electorally dangerous.
Article in the Independent (30 August)