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The culture wars and rolling back the state
The right-wing ‘war on woke’ is being used as a smokescreen for the dismantling of regulations on business and the economy, while workers’ rights and local government funding are eroded and cut back, argues JOHN GREEN

AT THE recent virtual Tory Party conference Boris Johnson demonstrated that his government is ratcheting up its attacks on the role of the state and using Brexit to divide working people by using nationalist and jingoist rhetoric.

“We are proud of this country’s culture and history and traditions; they literally want to pull statues down, to rewrite the history of our country, to edit our national CV to make it look more politically correct,” he said.

“We aren’t embarrassed to sing old songs about how Britannia rules the waves … while the Labour opposition … continue to flirt with those who would tear our country apart.

“I remember how some people used to sneer at wind power, 20 years ago and say that it wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.

“They forgot the history of this country. It was offshore wind that puffed the sails of Drake and Raleigh and Nelson, and propelled this country to commercial greatness.”

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