As a fellow small c / burkean conservative living in north London, it feels as if we have no political home. I couldn’t vote for the worst possible government yesterday. I couldn’t also force myself vote for Sadiq Khan’s party.
There’s definitely an underground, mildly exciting feeling to it, like a secret sect, sharing extremist views like oikophilia while we sip our oat milk flat whites with our liberal mates, exchanging ironic smiles when we come across BLM banners on multi million house windows in crouch end.
- regards from the newly socialist republic of Barnet
I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice the inherent contradiction among the liberal-progressive voters of urban areas, voting in lockstep for left wing candidates but in real life quite happy to live in extremely stratified, segregated worlds that are anything but what they publicly proclaim at the polls. The leagues of well-off left wing urban voters happy to vote for the politically correct party and then sending their children to private schools and living in de facto segregated areas where property prices and NIMBYis keep out the undesirables, or colonising a select state school, allowing them to proclaim proud support for diverse state education while, of course, they wouldn't dare touch the 95% of state schools. And, in the US, eager to vote for the George-Soros funded progressive district prosecutors who decriminalize so many crimes leading to a rapid rise in violent crime, and that's fine because they don't have to live in the actual crime-ridden areas of their cities.
there was a great genre of Twitter photos with people on their lawns having BLM signs and next to it Nimby signs objecting to new housing. There are so many of these contradictions. Some progressives will genuinely put their money where their mouth is - I know some who really do - but it's a huge sacrifice. for most it's just luxury beliefs, feeling better while making life worse for every one else
I do have respect for the genuinely committed, who will put money where their mouth is and seek out truly mixed communities and schools. But on the whole, why I can be jaded is because the left progressive urban demographics, whether affluent or student, are so dogmatic and preaching. How dare you shop at the supermarket when you should go to the farmer's market (ignoring that farmer's markets are more expensive); how dare you move to suburbia which is wasteful, car dependent, and unsustainable (ignoring that most people have been priced out of decent urban areas) and the list of litanies and scolding goes on forever. And one does get tired of the virtuous mask wearing, BLM and rainbow flags, and now Ukrainian flag everywhere in select urban neighborhoods.
I grew up in the affluent part of sharply divided American city and from early on I noticed it was easy to proclaim your love of city life when you have money and live in the affluent urban bubbles, which can be wonderful places in so many ways - handsome architecture, great institutions, restaurants, convenience, arts & culture, the beau ideal of civilized life, but the people who live in those areas are also strangely ignorant of what city life really means to most urban dwellers, at least in the United States: deprived, poor, run down, bad schools, trash, crime, dysfunctional politics.
The other irony is that for all the city dweller's sneering superiority, it's now the contemptuous suburbia that is increasingly resembling the demographic dynamics of cities of the past - the real diversity, economic and racial, is in suburban America, while the cities increasingly are the preserve of affluent white liberals and large poor black communities. The great diversification of the American population is found mainly in suburbia, as upwardly mobile immigrants and immigrant heritage second generation Americans vastly prefer bigger housing and cleaner suburbia over anything in the cities.
I still love cities and I am still jealous of family friends of the boomer generation who were able to buy fixer-uppers in Islington and Clerkenwell and Notting Hill for mere pennies back in the 1970s.
I don't trust my predictive powers BUT, and I'm going out on a limb here, I'm calling Haringey for Labour (results haven't come through yet but I have a feeling)
I did my bit in our part of London (Lab gain), voting Labour for the first time since 2015. It makes no sense in my circumstances to vote for the homeowner oligary party, and at least now we have a Labour Party run by gentlemen rather than the scum of the earth.
As a fellow small c / burkean conservative living in north London, it feels as if we have no political home. I couldn’t vote for the worst possible government yesterday. I couldn’t also force myself vote for Sadiq Khan’s party.
There’s definitely an underground, mildly exciting feeling to it, like a secret sect, sharing extremist views like oikophilia while we sip our oat milk flat whites with our liberal mates, exchanging ironic smiles when we come across BLM banners on multi million house windows in crouch end.
- regards from the newly socialist republic of Barnet
the more I live in N8 the more I realise there are many more of us than we imagine
I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice the inherent contradiction among the liberal-progressive voters of urban areas, voting in lockstep for left wing candidates but in real life quite happy to live in extremely stratified, segregated worlds that are anything but what they publicly proclaim at the polls. The leagues of well-off left wing urban voters happy to vote for the politically correct party and then sending their children to private schools and living in de facto segregated areas where property prices and NIMBYis keep out the undesirables, or colonising a select state school, allowing them to proclaim proud support for diverse state education while, of course, they wouldn't dare touch the 95% of state schools. And, in the US, eager to vote for the George-Soros funded progressive district prosecutors who decriminalize so many crimes leading to a rapid rise in violent crime, and that's fine because they don't have to live in the actual crime-ridden areas of their cities.
What can one say?
there was a great genre of Twitter photos with people on their lawns having BLM signs and next to it Nimby signs objecting to new housing. There are so many of these contradictions. Some progressives will genuinely put their money where their mouth is - I know some who really do - but it's a huge sacrifice. for most it's just luxury beliefs, feeling better while making life worse for every one else
I do have respect for the genuinely committed, who will put money where their mouth is and seek out truly mixed communities and schools. But on the whole, why I can be jaded is because the left progressive urban demographics, whether affluent or student, are so dogmatic and preaching. How dare you shop at the supermarket when you should go to the farmer's market (ignoring that farmer's markets are more expensive); how dare you move to suburbia which is wasteful, car dependent, and unsustainable (ignoring that most people have been priced out of decent urban areas) and the list of litanies and scolding goes on forever. And one does get tired of the virtuous mask wearing, BLM and rainbow flags, and now Ukrainian flag everywhere in select urban neighborhoods.
I grew up in the affluent part of sharply divided American city and from early on I noticed it was easy to proclaim your love of city life when you have money and live in the affluent urban bubbles, which can be wonderful places in so many ways - handsome architecture, great institutions, restaurants, convenience, arts & culture, the beau ideal of civilized life, but the people who live in those areas are also strangely ignorant of what city life really means to most urban dwellers, at least in the United States: deprived, poor, run down, bad schools, trash, crime, dysfunctional politics.
The other irony is that for all the city dweller's sneering superiority, it's now the contemptuous suburbia that is increasingly resembling the demographic dynamics of cities of the past - the real diversity, economic and racial, is in suburban America, while the cities increasingly are the preserve of affluent white liberals and large poor black communities. The great diversification of the American population is found mainly in suburbia, as upwardly mobile immigrants and immigrant heritage second generation Americans vastly prefer bigger housing and cleaner suburbia over anything in the cities.
I still love cities and I am still jealous of family friends of the boomer generation who were able to buy fixer-uppers in Islington and Clerkenwell and Notting Hill for mere pennies back in the 1970s.
Good article, as usual. Of course, the brave thing would have been to publish it yesterday 😉
I don't trust my predictive powers BUT, and I'm going out on a limb here, I'm calling Haringey for Labour (results haven't come through yet but I have a feeling)
Another excellent dose of positivity, from everyone’s favourite optimist.
thanks Nic. off to do my Samaritan's shift now
This statement seems a bit at odds with the rest of the article
“ Conservatism is our default state”
Really? Based on whether we have cars or not? Article would have been better without that part. Or at least it should have been qualified further.
Default for who? The world is urbanising and has been for decades. Therefore I would argue, using your own argument, the new default is liberal.
I did my bit in our part of London (Lab gain), voting Labour for the first time since 2015. It makes no sense in my circumstances to vote for the homeowner oligary party, and at least now we have a Labour Party run by gentlemen rather than the scum of the earth.
I think if you can't get on the housing ladder, or are concerned about people who can't, there is absolutely no reason to vote for the Tories