It's been noticed for a while now that men in general and young men in particular are more right wing and likely to vote Reform, what's been missed is that the total opposite has been going on with women. Women seem to be voting Green in quite high numbers, and seem to be more aware of the climate crisis and more socially aware.
Another interesting polarity in an already polarised world.
I find it interesting that this shift is being under reported
I voted Reform in the last UK general election. I did this because I believe the two main parties are different faces of the same coin - I don't believe either of them can change the course of our country's future in a meaningful, positive way. Therefore, I had to pick a party that was neither of these.
Reform was the best choice out of the other parties in my opinion, with the main reason being that they simply had the most momentum and the highest chance of success - with the success simply being that people would realise that having a third party actually win an election was a possibility. When I talked to anyone prior to the election, many were swayed to vote for one of the main two parties because "voting for anyone else is just throwing away your vote" - this is still a commonly-held opinion, but Reform did very well in terms of numbers, and I think they've changed a few minds on just what is possible in UK politics, which is a win for everyone in my opinion.
I also think that the biggest problem the UK is facing is demographic change - I believe that the current level of immigration is unsustainable and will lead to all sorts of problems.
Very disillusioned with politics myself, didn’t vote at the last election which is not like me. I am really fed up with the lot of them. The lies and self interest is just ridiculous. It’s a shame that very few seem to be acting in the best interests of our country and people in general. I find it incredible that a lot of people believe them….maybe it’s just me
My youngest son has decided he doesn’t want to vote at all as he’s totally disillusioned with the lot of them. I’ve always voted Labour but from now on I’m voting Green - I can’t believe how right wing Labour have become under Starmer - I absolutely can’t stand Starmer and Rachel Reeves. So it’ll be the Green Party for me for the foreseeable future I think.
I wonder how many young white men realise that people like Farage see them as cannon fodder?
I think a lot of working class people are brought up with the idea that theres something wrong with education, that it will make you posh, take you away from us, to good for us. I know I was bought up with this attitude, to stay on at school when you leave was almost inconcievable, you had to get a job and earn money. Whilst for some this was an economic nessicity as the family did really need extra money cooming in, or they had to because they'd had to leave home, for many it was the expectation of following in the family footsteps of working in the local factory, pit, steelworks or whoever was the biggest local employer. that was what gave you status in the local community. You could start off low down and work your way up to a foreman or something. Sometime in the 80's this changed, staying with the same employer started to be seen as unambitious and lazy, having a job had to be replaced with having a career, of course this all coincided with the deliberate destruction of our manufacturing industries putting thousands out of work. I think that whilst the world changed, women took advantage of the opertunities that were opening up for them both educationally and in the workplace, men didn't, it was beneath their dignity to work in a call centre, the women could and did, it was low paid and status free, so the men often didn't see it as fitting to thier previous status as providers. I think these things have carried on across two or three or even more generations now. The other thing to remember was how warped the old 11+ system was, it was deliberately biased in favour of boys and against girls to maintain the illusion of male intellectual superiority.
He world has changed, but men haven't and now I think they realise that it's not going to change back, that they're going to have to get real, get educated and compete on equal terms with the groups they've historically looked down on.
I agree with you Lotus. I think the reasons for making life choices can be complex and not something that can be defined easily, and some young men genuinely feel threatened because of how things are reported.
Equality for men and for women is a fine balancing act and society can swing one way, then the other, leading to inequality, especially when it is related to voting intention rather than something like equality in the workplace.
Of course there have always been ‘mini hierarchies’, it was just a choice of words to picture the network in a different way - connecting triangles, pyramids and that kind of thing.
People don’t have to be Christian to understand the current media reports of Pope Francis’ life long pursuit of justice for the poorest of the poor. The Pope exerted influence on many leaders and on some political policies, but clearly nothing has rubbed off on Vance and Trump, except the photo opportunities promoting themselves.
I think that some young white males are feeling marginalised. It's important to look out for the needs of women and BAME people and to learn about things like women's emancipation, slavery and empire in our history, but I think that continually highlighting it could make young white men feel like they are not valued, maybe even that they are not trusted. But what many people do not know is that white working class boys are now the most under achieving group in education, with the poorest life chances. Perhaps they feel that Reform make them feel included for the first time in their life. It's only rich men that have an advantage in life.
As a woman in my sixties, I have lived experience of inequality, so I can assure everyone that I'm strongly in support of equality. But this means making everyone feel equally worthwhile. It's not an easy thing though.
I think many people, myself included feel politically homeless, I've never been a member of a political party, to be honest I think political parties are part of the problem with our politics, who do MP's choose to follow when theres a conflict of interest between the policies of their goverment or the needs and wishes of thier constituents?
I don't watch any online only media channels, so I can't really comment on them, but have there not always been mini hierarchies? If you go back a couple of hundred years, parliaments were made up aristocrats and those rich enough to qualify to vote.
I doubt if the Pope's funeral will have any impact on the likes of Trump, or many other politicians to be honest. Not being Christian, let alone a Catholic the whole things about Popes both confuses and amuses me.
Perhaps the shift is underreported, but I recall the statistics being discussed on ITV’s ‘Peston’ and at least one other programme a few months ago, possibly BBC’s Newsnight with Victoria Derbyshire (she’s the woman!!). I tend to scan the newspapers, but lately not always every day, so I could have missed further reporting on this issue.
The world is changing at a phenomenal rate and it does seem than women tend to care about social issues and our planet more than men do. I think women place more importance on relationships and this is reflected in the tendency of autistic women to mask effectively, more so than men. The media underreports world affairs that affect the poorest of the poor, it is reflective of a ‘me’ culture, rather than a care for ‘us’ as in the world and the big picture.
Maybe some men feel the need to ascertain their masculinity through extreme right wing channels and through Reform, factions that encourage and affirm a toxic masculinity that is promoted through money make social media channels. It promotes a network of mini hierarchies throughout Britain, Europe and the world, with the winners being the people at the top like the Tate brothers and Vance who net the revenue through an immoral process, and believe they have a right to be part of the select few in charge of the world. There is an overconcern for ‘our country first’ policies which have been generated by an out of proportion focus on immigration statistics which do not reflect the general movement of people around the world.
I am hoping the extended media reporting of the life, death and funeral of Pope Francis, and discussions of The Pope’s meetings with leading people who promote opposing political policies like Vance, and of course Trump who is ‘looking forward’ to the funeral, will emphasise the cruelty of maintaining this shift and unconcern for the wider world.
There's a certain number of young men being radicalised online by toxic podcasters like Tate, Rogan and Peterson, plus all the awful stuff pushed by the current US regime and right wing publications like the Daily Mail.
People are easily swayed and influenced by sensationalist headlines and ideals instead of actually researching what's really happening and reading the entire article behind the headline. Right wing media use this to their own advantage to create division, fear and hate.
