We Are Fucked

Something has shifted. You can feel it in the water, in the air. The referendum result wasn’t just about leaving the European Union - it was the opening shot in something much bigger and much more dangerous.

The right-wing populist surge isn’t a British phenomenon, it’s global. People are quick to dismiss Trump as a joke, but he’s rising in America, the Front National is gaining ground in France, the AfD is making inroads in Germany. What we’re witnessing is the international co-ordination of a movement that promises simple solutions to complex problems, that offers someone to blame for everything that’s gone wrong.

And it’s working because the political establishment has spent decades telling people that there’s no alternative to the way things are. That globalisation is inevitable, that inequality is natural, that democracy means choosing between slightly different flavours of the same fundamental system. When you offer people managed decline, don’t be surprised when they choose fascism instead.

The Leave campaign understood something that Remain didn’t: people are angry, and anger needs direction. They gave it direction - towards Brussels, towards immigrants, towards the so-called liberal elite who allegedly look down on ordinary people. It doesn’t matter that the diagnosis is wrong if the alternative is being told your problems don’t exist.

We need to stop pretending that Farage and his movement are just another political opinion. They represent fascism with a media-friendly face, following the same escalation tactics we’ve seen throughout history. Today’s “reasonable concern about integration” becomes tomorrow’s mass deportations, but it never stops there. The logic of exclusion always expands - once you’ve decided some people don’t belong and normalised violence against them, the definition of “undesirable” keeps growing. Immigrants become refugees become anyone foreign-looking become anyone defending them become anyone questioning the state.

This is deliberate strategy, not accidental drift. They’re testing how much hatred they can mainstream, building the infrastructure of authoritarianism whilst everyone debates whether calling them fascists is too harsh. Meanwhile, they’re already winning - shifting the conversation, changing what’s acceptable, making the unthinkable seem inevitable.

But here’s what terrifies me: this is just the beginning. The forces that delivered Brexit aren’t going to stop at leaving the EU. They want the lot - they want to dismantle the welfare state, gut worker protections, roll back civil rights, and rebuild society in their image. They’ve tasted blood and they know they can win.

The only way to stop them is to be equally radical in the opposite direction. Half-measures won’t work. Technocratic solutions won’t work. Trying to out-patriot the patriots won’t work. You can’t fight passionate intensity with passionate moderation.

We need to offer people something to vote for, not just against. We need to promise transformation, not just better management. We need to show that there is an alternative to the way things are - not just a return to the way things were, but something genuinely different, genuinely better.

That means Labour members and MPs need to rally around the leadership and support it. Now is not the time for internal squabbling or attempts to drag the party back to the failed centre. The membership chose a direction - it’s time to get behind it and fight as one.

Because if we don’t, if we keep offering triangulation and compromise whilst they offer revolution and purpose, then we’re going to lose everything. They understand that politics is about power, not just policy. They’re playing to win, and they’re prepared to break things to get what they want.

The centre ground is collapsing. You can choose which side of the collapse you want to be on, but you can’t choose to remain in the middle. That option no longer exists.

The next few years will determine what this country becomes. Either we get radical about building something better, or we watch them tear down everything we thought was permanent. There’s no third option, and there’s no time left to pretend otherwise.

They want the lot. The question is: are we prepared to fight for it?