The two-speed liberalisation of Britain: the example of Rod Liddle

I’ve written before about the long-term liberalising of Britain, and how it’s two-speed nature also explains more recent political successes for some very non-liberal causes:

Each round of culture wars gets fought on more and more liberal grounds. Think back only as far as the last Conservative Party leader but one, David Cameron. The signature conflicts during his time – over adoption by same-sex couples and over same-sex marriage – were won by liberals. Not only won by liberals, but so overwhelmingly that the illiberal right is not pushing to undo them. They fought, they lost and they’ve given up on those issues. There is no caucus of right wing Tory MPs calling for Boris Johnson to make same-sex marriage illegal.

Nor is that the rare exception. It is the consistent pattern, both here and elsewhere, over repeated decades. There are many important struggles yet to be won, and significant hardship that people face as a result. As we recognise that, we can though also recognise the scale of what has happened.

Which leaves that conundrum. Why are culture wars seen as a boon for the illiberal right when the bigger picture is of them being in repeated retreat?

An answer to that is suggested by the excellent new book, Brexitland, by Maria Sobolewska and Robert Ford. Although they only mention ‘culture wars’ twice, the picture their detailed research produces is one of a country going through a sustained two-speed liberalisation…

Not every part of society is becoming more liberal at the same rate. As a result, although overall we’re been becoming more liberal, the gaps between how liberal people are have also widened.

That therefore serves up the paradoxical mix of both the country becoming more liberal and liberalism feeling under threat due to the increasing gaps caused by two-speed liberalisation.

Now The Economist has picked up on this idea too, and given it an eye-catching illustration with the case of Rod Liddle:

The Guardian has long regarded itself as the antithesis of the Sun. But until 2003 it ran a column by Rod Liddle, who would fleck his pieces for effect with phrases such as “spazzy”, “bint”, “poof” and “What about nuking the Belgians?”. Today Mr Liddle writes for the Sun, where his tone has become starchier: “Make a child with a smartphone as shocking a sight as a child with a cigarette” ran a recent effort. What passed for edgy humour in a liberal broadsheet in 2003 has, mercifully, become unprintable in a redtop in 2024. Some civilisations are best lost.

The whole piece is well worth a read: What the softening of the Sun says about Britain and you can listen to me discuss the two-speed liberalising of Britain with Professor Rob Ford in a podcast I did with him.

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