Episode #19: Elections, Part II
Images (CW): A baby outside a British polling station // logo by @3Dperson // People marching for a second Brexit referendum // Swedish election posters from the Green Party, the Liberals, the Moderates and the Social Democrats
Emma and Charlotte discuss populism and polarisation, how economic precarity and racism aren’t mutually exclusive, and what is happening in Sweden right now. Plus: Charlotte’s guide to the ‘no-go zone’ of Tower Hamlets…
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FOOTNOTES
We spoke about elections in episode #18 too – listen to it here;
The Swedish election took place on 9 September; the final result came in on 16 September. The Red-Green bloc (the Left Party/Vänsterpartiet, the Social Democrats/Socialdemokraterna and the Green Party/Miljöpartiet) has 144 seats in the new parliament, the Blue bloc (the Centre Party/Centerpartiet, the Liberals/Liberalerna, the Moderate Party/Moderaterna and the Christian Democrats/Kristdemokraterna) have 143 seats between them. The bloc-less Sweden Democrats increased their number of seats by 13 to 62. At the time of writing (24 September), no one has formed a new government so the Social Democrat’s Stefan Löfven remains prime minister [Update I: On 25 September, Löfven lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote; Sweden currently has a caretaker government until the Speaker suggests a new prime minister];
The article Emma mentions – in which the welfare spending habits of New Labour and the Swedish blue-bloc government of 2006-2014 is discussed – is “What the UK media is getting wrong about the Swedish election results” by Dominic Hinde, published by Prospect on 11 September. Read the article here and follow Dominic on Twitter @DominicMHinde;
Here’s one of many articles discussing the rise of the Sweden Democrats in the run-up to the election – this particular one, ‘Anti-migrant feeling fuels Swedish far right as election looms’, is by Jon Henley for The Guardian;
Kristdemokraterna (the Christian Democrats) was founded in 1964 and contested elections unsuccessfully (i.e. getting less than four per cent of the votes) until 1991, when it formed a conservative alliance government with the Centre Party, the Liberals and the Moderates. In 2018, it increased its share of the seats from 16 to 22;
Here’s the Wikipedia article on the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet). Its MPs have never held any ministry posts, but the Social Democrats have relied on its support for its own minority governments since the 1970s;
‘Belgium marks a year without a government: Belgium’s record-breaking political impasse has now lasted for a year.’ The Daily Telegraph, 13 June 2011;
Charlotte’s article ‘Purdah: The Politics of Inoffensiveness’ was published by Popula on 31 July 2018;
The Swedish riksdag held its Speakers election on 24 September; the Moderates’ Andreas Norlén was elected Speaker, the Social Democrats’ Åsa Lindestam First Deputy Speaker, and the Left Party’s Lotta Johnsson Fornarve Second Deputy Speaker. Between 2014 and 2018, that role was held by the Sweden Democrats’ Björn Söder, who is on the record saying that ethnic and religious minorities can’t ever be Swedish… #goodriddance;
Only 11 of the Sweden Democrats’ 49 MPs 2014-2018 were women. In total, 43.6 per cent of the parliamentary seats were held by women;
On racism in Scandinavia: Afua Hirsch has written about her experiences living in Norway here, and Camilla Hällgren’s article ‘Working harder to be the same’: everyday racism among young men and women in Sweden’ in Race, Ethnicity and Education Vol. 8, No. 3(2005) is available here. Follow Afua on Twitter @afuahirsch;
Ernesto Dal Bó, Frederico Finan, Olle Folke, Torsten Persson and Johanna Rickne’s article ‘Economic Losers and Political Winners: Sweden’s Radical Right’ from August 2018 is available here. Follow two of the authors on Twitter @OlleFolke and @johannarickne;
Charlotte wrote ‘The United Kingdom: Class, Race, and Identity’ for Perspectives on History in September 2016, read the article here;
James Meek has written about Brexit in Lincolnshire for the London Review of Books here and here. Follow him on Twitter @_jamesmeek;
@profbritpol_phd is a “British Politics academic. Tweeting #data and #analysis of British Politics. Winner of 2013 Prize for Best Article in British Journal of Political Analytics”;
Charlotte reviewed Douglas Carswell’s book for the Political Quarterly earlier this year. Read the review here;
The Guardian’s article about multilingual Peterborough school children is ‘The school where they speak 20 languages: a day at Gladstone Primary’: “Not one pupil at the Peterborough school speaks English as a first language. But, despite the challenges, it has just received a glowing Ofsted report. The Guardian spent a day there”. Written by Patrick Barkham, it was published on 28 February 2013;
Correction klaxon: there was a National Front candidate in Peterborough in 2005, not 1997 (there was another one in 1979);
Lynsey Hanley wrote ‘Labour’s heartlands aren’t racist. They need listening to’ for The Guardian on 17 February 2017;
Labour’s conference is underway as we release this episode; the delegates are in favour of a second referendum, but the leadership is wavering…
How to Get Rid of a Conservative Leader: a handy guide from Channel 4 News;
Charlotte is reading lines from Maggie Smith’s ‘Good Bones’:
“Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.”
“Don’t Mourn, Organise!” are words attributed to Joe Hill, a Sweden-born US-based trade unionist and songwriter who was executed in Utah in 1915. Emma once won her team first place at a quiz during a Nordic labour history conference by knowing that Joe’s original name was Joel Hägglund.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
Charlotte recommends ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’, which will be in a cinema near you right now and probably for the foreseeable;
Emma recommends The Good Fight, which is no longer available on All4. But here’s a Diane Lockhart gif instead:
THE NEXT EPISODE…
…will be on #metoo.
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