Alexander Stille offers a long read on Giorgia Meloni (Keir Starmer's new friend)... he asks:
'Is the real Giorgia Meloni a closet fascist or a conservative democrat? It may not matter. Meloni is, above all, a skilled & disciplined politician who has risen to power by staking out territory on the centre-right'.
For those in the centre & to the left, a competent & 'sensible' (closet far) right may be the real danger now & into the future.
The shapeshifter: who is the real Giorgia Meloni?
The long read: She’s been called a neo-fascist and a danger to Italy. But she has won over many heads of Europe, including the UK prime minister. Should we be worried?Alexander Stille (The Guardian)
RolloTreadway
in reply to Emeritus Prof Christopher May • • •I agree. I've said before, I think the biggest advantage those of us opposed to the hard and far right have in the UK right now is that they have no plausible leader. Just clowns and frauds.
This won't last forever, sooner or later they will find an equivalent of Meloni or Le Pen, not just charismatic and plausible, but willing to do the hard work over many years.
We should look to strengthen our position before that happens.
Pedestriansfirst
in reply to RolloTreadway • • •RolloTreadway
in reply to Pedestriansfirst • • •@pedestrians1st No, I said someone plausible and willing to work hard.
Farage is a clown, he has no interest in anything other than money and attention. His political positions beyond immigration are not remotely popular - his main focuses other than not liking foreigners are opposing the NHS and denying climate change, both of which are extremely far from mainstream politics and likely to become more so. And he has no interest in actually working.
Farage is not going to be leader of the Tories, and if he was, the party would likely cease to exist.
Richard Michael Blaber
in reply to Emeritus Prof Christopher May • • •