It was late when I read it and forgot to reply by morning.
I think the main thing that’s not directly addressed, although it’s kind of talked about in all the identify stuff, is how from Thatcher’s government’s onwards, individualism has become the clearly stated socially acceptable norm in the country. It certainly ties into the identity stuff, but to my mind it runs far. deeper than that; we’re taught from a young age that everyone earns exactly what they deserve, that if we just work hard enough we’ll be a success and that social security isn’t a safety net for the less fortunate, but something that encourages for scroungers to not try and better themselves. The rhetoric of individualism is endemic everywhere and it’s used to divide collectives on a daily basis. YOU might be a white Brit, but THAT white Brit is living on YOUR taxes. YOU might be a member of Unison, but THOSE tube drivers are striking again.
Yes, the modernisation of unions and left-wing politics are in part the tools we can use to try and reverse that, but I think it’s important to recognise that the problems of identity in the UK go far further than just the idea of identifying in groups and the failings of many unions to keep themselves relevant, otherwise we’re not engaging with the whole problem.
