I’m middle class, Right-wing and furious.
Does my ‘lived experience’ not count?
The Left considers its anger to be virtuous. But conservatives cross
about the state of Britain are castigated or condemned!
Camilla TomineyAssociate Editor.
Until this week, I hadn’t realised that only Left-wing “anti-racists” are allowed to feel angry. When George Floyd was killed by police in the US, the Black Lives Matter brigade were quick to express their outrage. London mayor, Sadiq Khan, tweeted that the death had “rightly ignited fury”. Translation: if you were angry you had every right to be.
Bristling with righteous indignation, all the usual suspects, from Diane Abbott to Zarah Sultana, took to social media to vent. Some were so incandescent they even dropped to their knees. Like Keir Starmer and his then deputy Angela Rayner, who issued a joint message to Labour Party staff expressing how “shocked and angered” they were, adding: “We have watched in horror as protestors peacefully exercising their right to protest have been met with force by police.”
The meaning was clear: Left-wing anger is justified and virtuous.
We kneel with all those opposing anti-Black racism. #BlackLivesMatter
But what of anger on the Right? When Nigel Farage suggested that people were correct to react with “pure cold rage” after the release of bodycam footage of Henry Nowak’s death, he was castigated for inciting violence. Sir Keir piously told Parliament that politicians needed to respond to the case with “serious work, not rage”.Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old student, being handcuffed by police before his death, following a false claim of racial abuse Credit: Hampshire & Isle of Wight ConstabularyThe Left had apoplexy when David Cameron told Angela Eagle to “calm down dear” during a heated exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions in 2011, yet now they are guilty of the same patronising attempt at mollification. It’s ironic, because I thought the so-called progressives were the ones who believed in the concept of “lived experience”.
Defined as the “knowledge and understanding someone gains from directly living through an event, identity, or systemic reality, rather than just studying it from a distance”, this term has been used to justify Left-wing anger – whether over Brexit, colonialism or the trans debate.
I take that to mean: if you feel angry then you have every right to be. Yet not, it seems, if you’re fed up with two-tier policing and third-rate government.
Well, let me share my “lived experience” as a professional mother of three and you can decide whether my “pure cold rage” is justified.
I’m not someone prone to fury, preferring to keep calm and carry on in a thoroughly British manner. But like the vast majority, I do feel angry – and justifiably so.
I’m angry with Boris Johnson for squandering his 80-seat majority. I’m angry with the Tories for breaking their manifesto promises. I’m angry with Tony Blair for opening our borders, and furious with the Conservatives for failing to close them. I’m angry that a man as bad at politics as Keir Starmer is our Prime Minister. I’m angry that a man equally opportunistic and lacking in ideological heft is set to use Makerfield as a stepping stone to replace him.
I’m angry that we have an economically illiterate Chancellor, whose two idiotic Budgets have prompted a wealth exodus, damaged business and pushed up unemployment. I’m angry that Labour does not have the courage to cut a welfare bill spiralling out of control. I’m furious that the Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, will only admit privately that Labour is taxing people to pay more benefits. I’m angry with able-bodied people attempting to claim subsidised Motability cars and people with ADHD receiving blue badges. I’m angry I can’t get an appointment with my GP despite my National Insurance contributions rising. I’m angry we’re pouring ever greater sums into the NHS when it still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic productivity levels.
I’m angry that anti-Israel marchers have been allowed to call for a global intifada on Britain’s streets. I’m angry that Jews are facing such high levels of anti-Semitism that some feel compelled to leave the country. I’m furious that a political leader like Zack Polanski is demanding a database of dual British-Israeli nationals who have served in the IDF. I’m fed up with being constantly gaslit by men such as Mothin Ali – who accuses others of misogyny, despite having been pictured posing alongside his wife, dressed head-to-toe in a black veil.
I’m as appalled by Henry Nowak’s murder as I was by the Southport and Nottingham killings. I interviewed Barnaby Webber’s mother, Emma, this week and was furious to hear how Valdo Calocane’s victims were let down by our failing state at every turn. I’m angry that two teenage rapists escaped prison sentences, despite filming themselves degrading their 14-year-old victim. I’m angry with a police service that appears to think racism is a worse crime than murder. I’m angry that no one heeded warnings that DEI had gone too far before it was too late.
Similarly, I’m angry with all the revisionists now claiming they never actually did think that trans women were women, having remained silent during the attempted cancellation of the gender critical.
I’m angry that we have a government so vindictive it has slapped VAT on private school fees, imposed a tax on farmers and scrapped non-dom status. I’m furious about the dishonesty surrounding net zero, and Ed Miliband’s obstinacy over new North Sea oil and gas licences.
I’m angry that politicians on the Right like Rupert Lowe are putting ego before country by allowing their parties to stand in by-elections they have no realistic hope of winning. I’m frustrated that Reform keeps attacking the Tories and vice versa, rather than recognising that the real political battle lies elsewhere.
So that’s my lived experience, folks. I imagine many of you are feeling as angry as I am. But I’ll tell you what makes me more furious than anything else: people trying to deny us the right to feel this way – when our anger is, in no small part, of their making.
