The Populist Revolt

What are the political and moral fault-lines that divide Brexit Britain — and how can we achieve a new settlement that works for everyone? Several decades of greater economic and cultural openness in the West have not benefited all our citizens. Founding editor of Prospect magazine, David Goodhart argues that among those who have been left behind, a populist politics of culture and identity has successfully challenged the traditional politics of Left and Right. He suggests that a new division has been created: between the mobile ‘achieved’ identity of the people from Anywhere, and the marginalised, roots-based identity of the people from Somewhere. This schism accounts for the Brexit vote, the election of Trump, the decline of the centre-left, and the rise of populism across Europe. Goodhart visits the RSA to reveal how the 'Somewhere' backlash is a democratic response to the dominance of 'Anywhere' interests, in everything from mass higher education to mass immigration.