Britain is becoming more illiberal and unpatriotic as today’s increasingly woke young people become voters. That’s according to Professor of Politics Eric Kaufmann, who has written about the worrying findings of his latest survey in the Telegraph.
What I term cultural socialism – the desire to engineer equal outcomes and protect minority identity groups from psychological harm – all too often takes priority for Gen-Z and Millennials over historic British values such as freedom of speech, objective truth and attachment to the nation’s historical accomplishments. Contrary to the fairy tales Conservative politicians tell themselves, these young people will not change their views as they pass through milestones like taking a job, owning a home, or having children. The woke revolution is cultural, not material.
Consider the findings of my recent Policy Exchange reports on the politics of young Britons and public opinion on culture war issues. Among survey respondents under 26, more were opposed to than supportive of the Vice-Chancellor of Sussex University’s defence of the academic freedom of gender-critical philosopher Kathleen Stock, who was hounded by a mob of campus trans activists. This age group is evenly divided between those who want J.K. Rowling dropped by her publisher and those who think she should stay, or between those who want Churchill’s statue to be removed or for it to remain in Parliament Square. By contrast, those over 50 support Rowling and Churchill by an overwhelming 85 to five margin.
Young people are influenced by social media, but schools play an important part in reinforcing woke beliefs. A clear majority of British schoolchildren are being indoctrinated with cultural socialist ideas. Among the 18-year-olds I sampled, 63% were taught or heard from an adult at school about at least one of ‘white privilege’, ‘unconscious bias’ or ‘systemic racism’ – three concepts derived from critical race theory. If we include radical feminist ideas such as ‘patriarchy’ or the idea of many genders, this rises to 78%. Those who have been taught more of these critical social justice (CSJ) ideas are more likely to favour political correctness as a way of protecting disadvantaged groups, rather than viewing PC as stifling free expression.
Those young people who dissent from orthodoxy do so at their own risk, and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) agenda forces them to self-censor. A majority of Right-leaning young people who said they were taught at least three of five CSJ concepts worried about being expelled or punished for voicing their opinions. Nearly half of Right-leaning employees under 35 who have taken diversity training worry about being fired or losing their reputation.
While the public opposes wokeness by more than two to one, the Tories – in power for the last 12 years as wokery in education has exploded – seem incapable of tacking the spread of cultural socialism in schools, the NHS, the police and civil service, says Prof. Kaufmann. Too many Conservative MPs are “business liberals who pray at the altar of economic dynamism and care little about the country’s culture and traditions”, and thus “lack both the conviction and courage to act”, unlike their U.S. counterparts like Ron DeSantis.
The gravity of the situation cannot be underestimated, Prof. Kaufmann argues: “If most Britons no longer believe in freedom of speech or scientific reason and view our past as a racist nightmare, this is not some ‘culture war’ sideshow. It undermines the very essence of British civilisation.”
Responding to the survey results when they were released last week, Toby said:
Schools should not be teaching these politically contentious theories as if they were indisputably true. It leaves children feeling ashamed of their country and fearful that if they say something positive about Britain they will be accused of racism and targeted for cancellation. We passed a law in 1996 making it illegal to politically indoctrinate children. They can be taught about political issues, but only if they’re given a balanced presentation of opposing views. Unfortunately, that law is more honoured in the breach than the observance.
Professor Kaufmann’s article is worth reading in full.
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Human Resources or, as it used to be called, Personnel – that thoroughly useless department which goes above and beyond its brief (which is mainly to find people to fill jobs and then sack them later if they don’t come up to scratch) and now polices the workplace. Since when did we humans become just ‘resources’ – to be used and then discarded? Forever it seems. It’s the sort of job that a wokeist would naturally gravitate to because then they get to exercise control over the rest of the workplace and get to feel important. In my mind, all HR depts would be binned. You just need people with common sense and discernment.
I first became aware that there was such a thing as an HR Dept. in the late 90s when I visited a City bank to transact some business. I was introduced the the Head of HR and his female deputy. I surmised in short order, that both were remarkably self-absorbed, over confident of their own importance in the overall scheme of things, and thoroughly unpleasant.
I was once asked in an interview for a company that shall remain nameless how I would help to make sure everyone feels able to express themselves. My answer was to lead by example, specifically to say what you mean and to mean what you say and that offence is taken not given, sticks and stones… etc. Raised eyebrows, followed by a statement from a cardboard cutout HR representative that “here, we encourage people to leave their private selves at home.”
Screw that for a lark. I can’t be arsed having a million personas to manage.
Didn’t get the job, thankfully.
EDIT, it was British Gas, in 2009
It’s the typical ‘non’ question that they like to use as if means anything at all. I would have said if they want to express themselves they can and if they don’t they don’t, I’m not here to nanny words out of them…and I wouldn’t have got the job either so screw them!
It’s a non question designed to weed out people like us.
What this idiot was saying was that individuality is not allowed in the workplace. Almost certainly felt morally superior saying it, but was blissfully and arrogantly unaware of the cancer they were spreading.
I suspect a certain type of individuality is fine – a woke, left wing type.
Like the one giving you the ‘thumbs down’
LOL. I hold the DS world record for downvotes 2 down and zero up.
Only managed it on one post but I will try and do better.
Oh some types of individuality are actively encouraged: trannies; Muslims; gays. It’s just the “normies” who aren’t allowed to do it.
“here, we encourage people to leave their private selves at home.”
Liars. They root through your personal tweets, Facebook posts and photos, to see if you ‘align with company values’. They demand to know your sexual preferences, your marital status, your racial profile, your ‘gender identity’ etc etc
They probably can’t wait until AI is in charge. The DR department. Dehumanised Resources.
They mean leave Reality at home, if you have ever met it, and join our Ideology, like gender choice, daily choice of pronouns and favourite NET Zero policy.
A good reply to that would be “I’m not qualified to work as their therapist and not applying for the position, either.”
All these rules will not change beliefs, they will simply repress them.
We are told that repressing feelings is not healthy, hence the availabilty of “talking therapy” and psychoanalysis.
The outcome will not be a good one; the release of repressed feelings often results in extreme violence.
A pertinent and important point regarding all of this DEI claptrap is made here. I agree. Why on earth are people who aren’t white still being referred to as ”minorities”’. You can see how this plays perfectly into the hands of the supposedly perma-oppressed/disadvantaged plus the Woketard social engineers that are making this racist, unethical garbage possible. And obviously, when I say ”racist”, I’m referring to the blatant racism against white people, that is plain for all to see and is being normalized across all contexts now. This is in response to a Bret Weinstein comment;
”I would argue we need to stop calling any group other than white males “minorities”
Are people from India a minority? No, there are more people of Indian descent in the world than almost any other race.
Are people from China a ‘minority’?
Again, no. There are more people of Chinese descent in the world than any other race. And, as a basic example, stats suggest there are 1000% (i.e. 10x) more chinese people in NZ than NZ’s other labelled ‘minority’… Maori.
Are people of the Muslim faith a minority?
No. 1 in 4 people on the planet profess to follow this religion, and there are only a small couple of percent more Catholics (31.8% vs 25.8%) – which is the largest professed faith.
Are people with black skin a minority?
Again, no. The population of our planet is around 14% black, and only 10% white.
And this makes their 13.6% representative level in America correlative if you are contrasting to global percentages.
Are Asian people in general a minority?
Still no. People of Asian descent make up around 60% of the world’s population.
‘Minority’ is yet another Orwellian language change by the woke meant to invoke the idea these peoples are a rarity & somehow needing of our assistance or they might disappear from the earth
Nothing could be further from the truth
It’s actually intended to opress & supress US.”
https://twitter.com/LawHealthTech/status/1771438475356561905
In a more innocent age, whilst being shown round a university archaeology department, I noticed a door marked HR and enquired what was within.
‘Human Remains’
About 10 years ago I applied for a part time job to see if I liked the idea of working there. A group of us completed the weeks training and just before starting work we were given a little talk. ——-The Training Officer said “You will all have noticed that there are many Muslims, Asians and people of colour working here. Should any of you say anything to offend these people you may face disciplinary action or possible dismissal. Have any of you any questions”?——–Because I really could not give a damn about this job and because I thought what I just heard was preposterous I asked the following question—-“If a Muslim or Asian or person of colour says anything to offend me may they also face disciplinary action or possible dismissal”? ————I have to tell you that I have never in all my life heard a room go so quiet or seen a person’s jaw drop so quickly. I never did receive an answer.—-A more perfect example of diversity only working in one direction I had not encountered till then ———–Diversity means only one thing —Less White people
Did you decide to stay?
I stayed for 3 months. ———-But in todays world if we looked for a workplace where none of this absurdity is going on none of us would have a job anywhere.
I’m retired and don’t need a job but have often thought of getting a part time job for a bit of sport. My wife’s reply was don’t you dare!
She’s right: some sports are more injurious to health than you realise.
I disagree with the author about where to lay the blame. It sits with MDs, CEO, Chairs of boards. It was the failure of senior management to focus on profit that allowed theses shareholder value destroying policies to take route.
Only an HR manager could believe it really was always all about them.
Indeed – the buck stops with them.
But then you get twerps like this, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer from Humberside. What mad him decide to put that symbol on his rank markings?? Totally unnecessary and irrelevant. Wonder if he wears a pink helmet at fires? Or maybe he’s just the emergency hairdresser…
It would be really tricky to do properly but I would love to see research done into how many people from these “communities” (I use the inverted commas deliberately) actually feel they are represented by the individuals and organisations that shout so loudly about “LGCBT+ rights”. The same applies to other “minorities” and “identity groups”. I suspect not as many as one might think, and nowhere near all them. I used to be a “cyclist” – using London’s roads to get to work on a pushbike – and I certainly didn’t feel “represented” by someone like Jeremy Vine or Cycling Mikey.
You can bet you will find some fine volunteers in the ranks of the Socialist Workers Party to ‘represent‘ them.
My wife has been undergoing treatment at Manchester’s leading cancer hospital. The place is festooned with display screens showing all of the usual nonsense. Each one must cost a couple of grand hence the reason why I won’t make a donation to their charity
Speaking of charity, the late US Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia had some interesting things to say about it here: Antonin Scalia, Is Capitalism or Socialism More Conducive to Christian Virtue? 09/06/2013 (youtube.com)
It’s what happens when those in charge are oblivious to the discipline, let alone the dangers. Just think of the fire brigade fighting a fire, and being shot at by snipers.
If they prepared for that beforehand, with expensive training and firearms, they would be taken off duty. And, even afterwards, many would not know where to start: they’ve likely been firemen for their whole working lives. And then committees would be set up to determine the lessons learnt, and work out the next steps. And who betide you if you recruited an inappropriate advisor.
Yes, the buck stops with those at the top, but they are hampered by the country’s laws and legal system. It’s up to the People to change government at the next election.
This demise is what has happened in many of our industries, for example, Manufacturing and the Energy Industry. Why would anyone competent bother? No wonder so many competent professionals take early retirement.
All public sector organisations and most large private companies are now lost to this evil totalitarianism. I was recently at a funeral with a good number of other folk in their mid to late fifties. All had just retired, were about to retire, or were planning to retire in the near future as they were sickened by their work no longer being about its ostensible purpose but now being largely about complying with the political diktats of the ultra-left establishment.
We have to also talk about another one of its antecedents, Health and Safety. I don’t think we want people not to go home after a days work, but to A&E or the mortuary, but as soon as you have a HSE needing to make more regulation to preserve their jobs and future prospects, then you have to make H&S a separate function to keep up with the tsunami of regulation. Now you are lost in a vortex of H&S bodies on one side making regulation endlessly, and H&S departments on the other needing to adopt the new regulations endlessly for reasons likewise. Throw in the insurers and the box ticking to ensure that it is a required activity, and that’s the whole sorry mess set in stone.
Don’t forget the Unions, they love to use H&S as a stick to beat managers with
We don’t have HR as such in my firm – we’re too small and too focused on doing actual work. But because of the physical location (London) and social class (middle, educated, “intelligent) of the staff, the prevailing orthodoxy is politically well to the left. Express open support for Brexit or Trump and people will guffaw, chortle, splutter their coffee, treat you like a mad uncle.
Always worth remembering Dirty Harry’s succinct and erudite view of the Personnel function.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvG3R-xOMzE
The British people really aren’t woke despite efforts to make it so. The very genius of the English language is tied up with the fine old art of taking the piss. It is what keeps us going along with talking about the weather. You can take the piss out of the English language but you will never remove its piss-taking tendency,.
But it seems that we’re no longer taking it, we’re giving it away….
Except for all the kids who have gone through and are still going through the past 20 years of woke indoctrination in our schools.
Anyone who has kids will know this – if they are bothered at all to take notice – and they won’t be if they don’t think and start to believe what their kids are being indoctrinated with is ‘the right thing.
As time goes by those who know what is going on will die and the new generations will perpetuate this nonsense.
So its no good saying it is all nonsense when people are being and have been indoctrinated.
“…. the pernicious creep of a political monoculture within the workplace and society as a whole. It’s the catastrophically chilling effect it has on freedom of speech and expression.”
The question constantly in mind is: who exactly are the people doing this? Not just funding the activists but who is making this stuff happen?
As noted previously, you can’t fight an enemy you can’t see.
I have thought that too when people get ‘cancelled’ for saying/doing the ‘wrong’ thing. Who are these faceless cowards? Come on, step into the light if you dare
We need people with the ability to ferret them out and name and shame them.
I have no idea how that can be done. Journalists don’t seem to give a damn. No politicians are demanding this.
The Left usually end up in ‘unison’, with workers solidarity, no matter how impractical or (ironically) sustainable, and the Tory Party had Cameron’s A Lists: and the rest is History, unfortunately.
I strongly suspect HR and the DEI nonsense is part of the reasons why so many older workers have downed tools and retired early.
It’s certainly one of the reasons why I took early retirement from the Civil Service 7 years ago. I had been identified as part of their “highly motivated minority.” After several years of increasing disruption thanks to government and senior managerial decisions, I couldn’t stand the chaos or PC nonsense any longer. I now have a “little job” in a small, private company which is probably the least PC place I’ve worked in since the late ’70s.
It’s all very North Korea / East Germany / USSR. Everybody spies on everybody else and reports dissenters for fear of being reported themselves. The author is correct – we need legislation to abolish this otherwise we’ll be stuck with it for years if not decades to come.
Legislation will only occur after the problem has been remedied. How else will it be in acted.
In Canada, according to income statistics, whites are in the middle of ethnic groups for income earned, for those born in Canada.
In other words there is no basis to the claim of discrimination.
My feeling about HR is that it is filled with women who might have qualified in the past for clerical work but got “promoted” when organizations had to show they were moving women into higher paid jobs. I am a woman, just in case someone wants to harangue me for sexism.