#195 - Lisa McKenzie & Keith Gildart - Who Is Britain For? The Destruction of the Working Class

Britain did not simply leave its working class behind. Sociologist Lisa McKenzie and historian and former coal miner Keith Gildart argue that political and economic decisions deliberately dismantled the jobs, institutions, culture and communities that once gave working-class life security, identity and meaning.

They trace the destruction of Britain’s industrial economy, the decline of trade unions, Labour’s abandonment of its traditional voters and the disappearance of secure work, affordable housing and genuine social mobility. They also examine immigration and low wages, class prejudice, education, the rise of Reform and why so many people no longer believe Westminster represents them.

I question Lisa and Keith on private education, workers’ rights, taxation, inequality and whether any political party can reverse Britain’s decline. It leads to the central question of the episode: who is Britain actually for now?

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 - Who Is Britain For Now?

00:00:39 - What Is the Working Class Today?

00:07:12 - Britain Deliberately Dismantled Its Working Class

00:09:42 - The End of Britain’s Industrial Economy

00:12:43 - Keith’s Life as a Coal Miner

00:16:11 - What Happens When a Pit Town Dies?

00:19:51 - The Loss of Working-Class Identity

00:23:20 - Why Labour Stopped Saying “Working Class”

00:24:20 - Class Is About More Than Income

00:28:12 - Education, Opportunity and the Working Class

00:34:13 - The Left Has Forgotten Its Purpose

00:38:16 - Has Britain Created a Dependency Class?

00:46:33 - What Working-Class Teenagers Want

00:56:37 - Britain’s Deep Class Prejudice

01:01:18 - Immigration, Low Wages and the Working Class

01:17:44 - Why Working-Class Voters Moved to Reform

01:34:30 - Britain’s Crisis of Social Democracy

01:41:00 - The Working and Middle Classes Are Being Destroyed

01:59:37 - Who Is Britain Really For?

02:05:08 - What Is Britain’s Recovery Story?

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CONNECT WITH LISA MCKENZIE

› University of Bedfordshire – https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/school-of-society-community-and-health/staff/lisa-mckenzie/

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CONNECT WITH KEITH GILDART

› University of Wolverhampton – https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/Keith.Gildart

› Keeping The Faith – https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719097102/

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EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK

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