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| The films that changed my view … of Britain's shifting political landscape | The films that changed my view … of Britain's shifting political landscape |
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| Guardian member Richard Hector-Jones describes how John Harris’s Anywhere but Westminster series opened his eyes to why so many British people feel left behind, and why the country voted in favour of leaving the EU | |
| Sophie Zeldin-O'Neill | |
| Fri 23 Jun 2017 12.00 BST | |
| Last modified on Fri 9 Feb 2018 18.41 GMT | |
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| Richard Hector-Jones, 48, lives in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, and works for a communications agency dealing with social issues. | Richard Hector-Jones, 48, lives in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, and works for a communications agency dealing with social issues. |
| John Harris’s Anywhere but Westminster series is, and has always been, brilliant journalism. Armed with a video camera and plenty of curiosity, Harris and John Domokos go in search of the UK’s “real politics”, away from the chatter of Westminster. I think this series really came into its own in the run-up to last summer’s EU referendum, when they used it to shine a light on what was happening in areas not in the political spotlight. They were showing a reality utterly consistent with the mood of the wider UK, pre-Brexit, while few others were really listening. | John Harris’s Anywhere but Westminster series is, and has always been, brilliant journalism. Armed with a video camera and plenty of curiosity, Harris and John Domokos go in search of the UK’s “real politics”, away from the chatter of Westminster. I think this series really came into its own in the run-up to last summer’s EU referendum, when they used it to shine a light on what was happening in areas not in the political spotlight. They were showing a reality utterly consistent with the mood of the wider UK, pre-Brexit, while few others were really listening. |
| Harris and Domokos were on a mission to get to grips with the rising sense of discontent across the UK. By talking to people about real issues that matter to them, these interviews cut through so much of my own confusion. Their road trip from post-industrial Labour towns to rural Tory heartlands lifted the lid on concerns about immigration and national identity, and even went some way towards attempting to bridge generational and social gaps. It was a simple method that illuminated the fractured, chaotic state of British politics at a pivotal moment in history. | Harris and Domokos were on a mission to get to grips with the rising sense of discontent across the UK. By talking to people about real issues that matter to them, these interviews cut through so much of my own confusion. Their road trip from post-industrial Labour towns to rural Tory heartlands lifted the lid on concerns about immigration and national identity, and even went some way towards attempting to bridge generational and social gaps. It was a simple method that illuminated the fractured, chaotic state of British politics at a pivotal moment in history. |
| Harris seems to have a particular knack of talking to people that means they feel able to open up to him, sometimes almost forgetting they are being interviewed. He doesn’t come across as a conventional journalist – more like one of us – and I don’t think this series would be the same in the hands of anyone else. He’s never sniffy or superior, which was important in a debate that was partly about class, and last year there was a very strong sense that what those in power thought was happening wasn’t. | Harris seems to have a particular knack of talking to people that means they feel able to open up to him, sometimes almost forgetting they are being interviewed. He doesn’t come across as a conventional journalist – more like one of us – and I don’t think this series would be the same in the hands of anyone else. He’s never sniffy or superior, which was important in a debate that was partly about class, and last year there was a very strong sense that what those in power thought was happening wasn’t. |
| Manchester, where I live, looked to be increasingly Remain. Elsewhere there were people voting out of fear and anger, and rather than grouping them all in one bucket and dismissing their opinions, Harris asked the questions others wouldn’t, or couldn’t. He called it for the Leave campaign early on. And he was absolutely right. | Manchester, where I live, looked to be increasingly Remain. Elsewhere there were people voting out of fear and anger, and rather than grouping them all in one bucket and dismissing their opinions, Harris asked the questions others wouldn’t, or couldn’t. He called it for the Leave campaign early on. And he was absolutely right. |
| By capturing what was going to happen before events unravelled as they did, the series shifted my understanding of how the vote could go and, more importantly, why. I wasn’t surprised when the country voted as it did. By stepping outside the liberal bubble, Harris enabled those of us engaged with the series to read society with a fresh perspective. | By capturing what was going to happen before events unravelled as they did, the series shifted my understanding of how the vote could go and, more importantly, why. I wasn’t surprised when the country voted as it did. By stepping outside the liberal bubble, Harris enabled those of us engaged with the series to read society with a fresh perspective. |
| A month before the vote, the pair published an article calling for suggestions as to who they should speak to, which made it feel even more open-minded, collaborative and real. They did a similar thing with Donald Trump, going to Indiana and watching him win the presumptive election, and speaking to voters who thought he was the only viable option. | A month before the vote, the pair published an article calling for suggestions as to who they should speak to, which made it feel even more open-minded, collaborative and real. They did a similar thing with Donald Trump, going to Indiana and watching him win the presumptive election, and speaking to voters who thought he was the only viable option. |
| I often find the short films in this series very affecting; each one is a snapshot of social history. The boldness of Harris and Domokos’s approach and the honesty with which real people respond to them about how politics is impacting their lives makes for compelling viewing. I think a lot of politicians would do well to watch it. | I often find the short films in this series very affecting; each one is a snapshot of social history. The boldness of Harris and Domokos’s approach and the honesty with which real people respond to them about how politics is impacting their lives makes for compelling viewing. I think a lot of politicians would do well to watch it. |
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