Is Reform fascist, far-right or merely right wing? And do we really need to get into this?

Our guest on this episode, thinks we should: Daniel Trilling is a journalist, a long-time openDemocracy contributor, and the author of a new Book: If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable.

Daniel has spent decades covering the wild west of right-wing politics in England— from the fascists to the conservatives.

And his point, which we dig into over the length of this episode, is we need to correctly diagnose what Reform is, and what they are tapping into, before we decide what to do about it.

I found this conversation particularly thought provoking for two reasons: Whenever we cover Reform on openDemocracy (and we go at them very hard), we often get readers writing in saying, “I support Reform but I’m not racist”; On the other hand, I worry — to borrow from the title of Daniel’s book, if we are making a dangerous group respectable.

So yes, we need to get into it, and Daniel is just the person to do this with.

Buy Daniel's book: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9781037411571

Subscribe to openDemocracy: opendemocracy.net

00:00 Introduction

01:05 The Collapse of the UK's Two-Party System

02:18 The First-Past-The-Post Lottery

03:07 What is the "British Establishment"?

04:19 The Media Elite & Private School Pipelines

05:32 The "Punitive State": Working Class vs. The State

07:37 The Nigel Farage Playbook

10:48 The False Promise of "Fixing the Country"

13:30 "Anti-Nationals" & The Right-Wing Identity Crisis

16:32 Scottish Nationalism vs. Englishness

18:23 The Identity Void of Post-Empire Britain

21:40 How to Actually Defeat Reform UK & The Far-Right

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The climate crisis is changing the way nations think about food, energy, resources, war and peace. Melting ice caps are opening up new trade routes fought over by the world's great powers, conflicts are waged over food and mineral resources, shifting climates are fuelling migration – and Donald Trump says it's all just a scam.

Join Arthur Snell as he discusses his new book Elemental: the new geography of climate change and how we survive it. Spanning conflict in the Sahel, Russia's war in Ukraine, the US coveting Greenland, NEOM in Saudi Arabia, and China's energy push, Snell explores how the climate crisis is now in every part of our politics. But while there is much to concern us here, there's hope too. The world faces various futures, and it can adapt and respond to the realities of a changing climate.

📕 Buy Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive it

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9781035412945

👉 Stay informed. Sign up for the openDemocracy newsletter: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

✊ Support our work. In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. We rely on listeners like you to keep our independent journalism free. Donate today: https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:20 The Petro-State Panic: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the End of Oil

03:32 The Sahel Crisis: Climate Migration and Fragile States

08:24 Uranium & Mercenaries: Russia vs. France in Africa

10:25 The Arctic: Melting Ice, Shipping Routes, and Donald Trump

16:21 Ukraine: Why Putin is Weaponizing Food and Farmland

21:35 China’s Monopoly & Russia's Future as an "Economic Colony"

28:18 The Surprising Winners: Morocco, Interconnectors, and Climate Hope

32:41 Outro

Credits: Presented by Sian Norris

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"My ultimate vision... was to achieve by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his panopticon." — UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

When the state openly admits it wants its eyes on you at all times, how do citizens fight back?

In this episode of In Solidarity, Matthew Linares sits down with Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group. We cut through the Silicon Valley PR to expose the terrifying reality of the modern surveillance state. From the aggressive rollout of facial recognition and predictive policing to the "revolving door" between Big Tech lobbyists and policymakers, we explore how our democratic infrastructure is being hollowed out for corporate profit.

This isn't just a warning - it's an escape plan. Jim breaks down the illusion of corporate regulation, the realities of "enshittification," and the actionable steps you can take to reclaim your digital sovereignty today.

Get involved offline. Find an Open Rights Group meetup near you: https://www.openrightsgroup.org/get-involved/

👉 Stay informed. Sign up for the openDemocracy newsletter: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

✊ Support our work. In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. We rely on listeners like you to keep our independent journalism free. Donate today: https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:27 - The AI Panopticon

00:04:18 - The Lobbyist Loop & The “Rip-Off”

00:10:26 - “Enshittification” & The Illusion of Choice

00:14:48 - Why relying on tech regulators is a “mug’s game”

00:18:51 - Escaping the Matrix: Interoperability, analog meetups, and fighting back

Credits: Presented by Matthew Linares

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.