New Times,
New Thinking.

Why the UK government’s “war on woke” is failing

Waging a culture war isn’t a winning electoral strategy when 59 per cent of voters don’t even know what “woke” means.

By Martha Gill

When it comes to cultural messages, there is a simple rule for parties that wish eventually to win a majority: keep it vague.

You cannot win an election without uniting very different groups – voters to the left and right of you, from the north and the south, city dwellers and those from small towns, and people from different generations. The trouble with culture is that – by definition – it only applies to one group at a time. So the more specific you get, and the deeper you wade into a culture war, the smaller the set of voters you eventually find yourself championing. 

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