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| Britons need to rediscover the ties that bind | Britons need to rediscover the ties that bind |
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| Sun 8 Oct 2017 12.07 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 2 Dec 2017 02.37 GMT | |
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| Britain is today experiencing a rerun of the 1970s social class stalemate when neither organised labour nor the establishment and broad middle class was strong enough to prevail – until the arrival of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. This time, the stand-off is between value groups – what I have called the people from Anywhere, the educated and mobile, and the people from Somewhere, the more rooted and conservative. | Britain is today experiencing a rerun of the 1970s social class stalemate when neither organised labour nor the establishment and broad middle class was strong enough to prevail – until the arrival of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. This time, the stand-off is between value groups – what I have called the people from Anywhere, the educated and mobile, and the people from Somewhere, the more rooted and conservative. |
| The Anywheres are only about 20-25% of the population but their progressive individualist policies, prioritising openness, autonomy and cognitive ability, have dominated politics for more than a generation and promoted, among other things, mass immigration and mass higher education. | The Anywheres are only about 20-25% of the population but their progressive individualist policies, prioritising openness, autonomy and cognitive ability, have dominated politics for more than a generation and promoted, among other things, mass immigration and mass higher education. |
| Brexit was a backlash from the decent populist Somewheres, around half of the population, people who value stability, familiarity and more parochial group and national attachments and generally do not thrive in education driven economies. | Brexit was a backlash from the decent populist Somewheres, around half of the population, people who value stability, familiarity and more parochial group and national attachments and generally do not thrive in education driven economies. |
| The Anywheres then struck back at the last election—their political heartland, the seats (like Labour captures Canterbury and Sheffield Hallam) with a significant university and graduate presence, playing a decisive role in the outcome. | The Anywheres then struck back at the last election—their political heartland, the seats (like Labour captures Canterbury and Sheffield Hallam) with a significant university and graduate presence, playing a decisive role in the outcome. |
| More than 15 months after the EU referendum, we seem to be edging from a strong Somewhere Brexit, prioritising lower immigration and full sovereignty, to a slightly weaker Anywhere Brexit, focusing more on trade. The party arithmetic in the Commons, and the vetoes that implies, has made it almost impossible for a government to take any bold initiatives that might help to unite the value groups, such as a truly radical housebuilding or social care initiative. | More than 15 months after the EU referendum, we seem to be edging from a strong Somewhere Brexit, prioritising lower immigration and full sovereignty, to a slightly weaker Anywhere Brexit, focusing more on trade. The party arithmetic in the Commons, and the vetoes that implies, has made it almost impossible for a government to take any bold initiatives that might help to unite the value groups, such as a truly radical housebuilding or social care initiative. |
| Both Anywhere and Somewhere worldviews are decent and legitimate and it is the task of politics to find a settlement in which both groups feel their core interests are respected. This is harder in Britain than in some other rich democracies because Anywhere and Somewhere personal networks diverge so radically thanks to our mainly residential universities and so many Anywhere careers get sucked into London. | Both Anywhere and Somewhere worldviews are decent and legitimate and it is the task of politics to find a settlement in which both groups feel their core interests are respected. This is harder in Britain than in some other rich democracies because Anywhere and Somewhere personal networks diverge so radically thanks to our mainly residential universities and so many Anywhere careers get sucked into London. |
| Somewheres and Anywheres do not know each other because so many able, ambitious people invariably feel they have to leave their home town in order to live an achieved life. Consider this from Justine Greening, the education secretary, to the Social Mobility Commission, in which she speaks of “all the years I spent growing up in Rotherham where I was aiming for something better… a better job, owning my own home, an interesting career, a life that I found really challenging… I knew there was something better out there.” | Somewheres and Anywheres do not know each other because so many able, ambitious people invariably feel they have to leave their home town in order to live an achieved life. Consider this from Justine Greening, the education secretary, to the Social Mobility Commission, in which she speaks of “all the years I spent growing up in Rotherham where I was aiming for something better… a better job, owning my own home, an interesting career, a life that I found really challenging… I knew there was something better out there.” |
| Rotherham is not a one-horse town – it has 120,000 inhabitants and is 20 minutes from Sheffield. The Justine Greening story would not happen in Germany. There is no London, few global universities and a much greater stress on the local. The equivalent of Rotherham, say Gelsenkirchen, has a decent technical university that a German Greening could have gone to. | Rotherham is not a one-horse town – it has 120,000 inhabitants and is 20 minutes from Sheffield. The Justine Greening story would not happen in Germany. There is no London, few global universities and a much greater stress on the local. The equivalent of Rotherham, say Gelsenkirchen, has a decent technical university that a German Greening could have gone to. |
| In Germany, there is also a legal voice for employees in business and a three-year apprenticeship system for the non-academic that confers respect on even basic jobs in, say, retailing. The Länder system gives many people a strong regional identity and dialect. Catholic Bavaria is the place in Europe where Anywheres and Somewheres co-exist most happily, with its mix of social conservatism and economic dynamism. It has been said that Anywheres regard society as a shop, while Somewheres regard it as a home. Bavaria is a home with some very good shops. | In Germany, there is also a legal voice for employees in business and a three-year apprenticeship system for the non-academic that confers respect on even basic jobs in, say, retailing. The Länder system gives many people a strong regional identity and dialect. Catholic Bavaria is the place in Europe where Anywheres and Somewheres co-exist most happily, with its mix of social conservatism and economic dynamism. It has been said that Anywheres regard society as a shop, while Somewheres regard it as a home. Bavaria is a home with some very good shops. |
| We cannot become Germany, so we have to find our own way of breaking the stalemate. What that requires, above all, is for Anywhere liberalism to become more pluralistic and emotionally intelligent. | We cannot become Germany, so we have to find our own way of breaking the stalemate. What that requires, above all, is for Anywhere liberalism to become more pluralistic and emotionally intelligent. |
| As the children’s author David Lucas has written, we need the Anywhere values of diversity and freedom, but these are centrifugal virtues that do nothing to stop the atomisation of society. The centripetal virtues of duty, loyalty, respect for authority, responsibility for one’s own patch are largely left to Somewheres. | As the children’s author David Lucas has written, we need the Anywhere values of diversity and freedom, but these are centrifugal virtues that do nothing to stop the atomisation of society. The centripetal virtues of duty, loyalty, respect for authority, responsibility for one’s own patch are largely left to Somewheres. |
| What is needed is a common project or a common threat to bind the interests of the two value groups. In the longer run, localism and environmentalism might be one. Somewheres care about their home in a concrete way, Anywhere greens in a more abstract manner – but they face the same way. Brexit cannot, alas, act as the common project when it is the point of division. But that could change. If the EU makes unfair demands and is demonstrably the cause of negotiation failure the vast majority of Brits could come together to make a success of our journey over that cliff edge. | What is needed is a common project or a common threat to bind the interests of the two value groups. In the longer run, localism and environmentalism might be one. Somewheres care about their home in a concrete way, Anywhere greens in a more abstract manner – but they face the same way. Brexit cannot, alas, act as the common project when it is the point of division. But that could change. If the EU makes unfair demands and is demonstrably the cause of negotiation failure the vast majority of Brits could come together to make a success of our journey over that cliff edge. |
| David Goodhart works at Policy Exchange and is the author of The Road to Somewhere, listed in today’s 100 Political Classics supplement | David Goodhart works at Policy Exchange and is the author of The Road to Somewhere, listed in today’s 100 Political Classics supplement |
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