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Your article is 404 not found. Thank you for your opinion that "centre-left parties should actually be right-wing, it works, trust me". However, I do not share

Your article is 404 not found. Thank you for your opinion that "centre-left parties should actually be right-wing, it works, trust me". However, I do not share it and nor did the UK. Nor does the linked study, whose analysis and methods I find more persuasive than yours. > Every thing Starmer said indicated he was soft on immigration and he took no meaningful steps to stop it and send refugees back. Immigration into the UK is steeply down (1), the "took no meaningful steps" is just not true. But this is not how the topic is reported. I do believe that Home Secretary Mahmood truly does believe the hard-line things that she says (2) and that it is in no way winning any votes for Labour. Again, actual Labour voters are repulsed, and Reform voters are not attracted. This underscores my point that ceding this issue is not how centre-left parties win. I refer you to the study linked above as to how this backfired due to these perceptions. 1) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyp1ekd584o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyp1ekd584o 2) https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/21/shabana-mahmood-swears-at-hecklers-over-reform-uk-comments https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/21/shabana-mah...

rayiner 4mo ago
Try this one: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo What i’m describing is literally how the Danish left got back in power. In the UK you’d need someone in Labour at least as aggressive as Fredrickson: https://theconversation.com/denmarks-prime-minister-has-led-the-countrys-hardline-migration-policy-now-she-is-trying-to-influence-the-rest-of-europe-263932 https://theconversation.com/denmarks-prime-minister-has-led-.... Immigration isn’t “left wing” or “right wing.” It’s just neoliberalism. It’s based on viewing people as fungible units of labor output.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4mo ago
  > Immigration isn’t “left wing” or “right wing.” I do not agree. This is obviously an issue that the far right continually talk about. In racist terms. In academic language from the linked study: > Thus, accommodating the radical right on immigration could benefit the radical right by increasing the salience of an issue on which it has long been perceived as having a comparative advantage
  - rayiner 4mo ago
    > This is obviously an issue that the far right continually talk about. That’s labeling. Neoliberals coined the term “far right” to refer to a group that to the left of the conventional right on economic issues. > increasing the salience of an issue on which it has long been perceived as having a comparative advantage The Danish left predicted (imo, correctly) that the issue would remain and get more salient due to external factors. Then they got on the right side of it. The alternative approach is to hope the issue will reduce in salience. The problem is that the unruly coalitions that you need to stop far right parties can’t meaningfully give their constituents anything else they want. This is the problem in Germany, France, and the UK.
    - SideburnsOfDoom 4mo ago
      Yes, describing political groups is literally "labelling". The idea that the UK's anti-immigrant far right aren't actually far right is just laughable.
      - rayiner 4mo ago
        Definitions must be consistent with each other. Conventionally, “right” means more capitalist and “left” means more socialist. To be consistent with that existing definition, the “far right” would be the folks trying to privatize social security, eliminate banking regulations, eliminate barriers to free trade, etc. It would refer to libertarians, not anti-immigration populists.
        SideburnsOfDoom 4mo ago
        > To be consistent with that existing definition, the “far right” would be the folks trying to privatize social security, eliminate banking regulations, eliminate barriers to free trade, Yes, the far right parties in the UK are trying to do most of that (1) as well as inciting race riots against immigrants. I don't think that you have a point here. 1) not so much on the free trade, they talk a good fight on potential global trade deals, but their record is not so great - spurning actual EU free trade, going along with the USA's attempted trade wars. On that last point, the USA now is a counterexample to your criteria.

rayiner 4mo ago

Try this one: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mgkd93r4yo What i’m describing is literally how the Danish left got back in power. In the UK you’d need someone in Labour at least as aggressive as Fredrickson: https://theconversation.com/denmarks-prime-minister-has-led-the-countrys-hardline-migration-policy-now-she-is-trying-to-influence-the-rest-of-europe-263932 https://theconversation.com/denmarks-prime-minister-has-led-.... Immigration isn’t “left wing” or “right wing.” It’s just neoliberalism. It’s based on viewing people as fungible units of labor output.

SideburnsOfDoom 4mo ago
> Immigration isn’t “left wing” or “right wing.” I do not agree. This is obviously an issue that the far right continually talk about. In racist terms. In academic language from the linked study: > Thus, accommodating the radical right on immigration could benefit the radical right by increasing the salience of an issue on which it has long been perceived as having a comparative advantage
- rayiner 4mo ago
  > This is obviously an issue that the far right continually talk about. That’s labeling. Neoliberals coined the term “far right” to refer to a group that to the left of the conventional right on economic issues. > increasing the salience of an issue on which it has long been perceived as having a comparative advantage The Danish left predicted (imo, correctly) that the issue would remain and get more salient due to external factors. Then they got on the right side of it. The alternative approach is to hope the issue will reduce in salience. The problem is that the unruly coalitions that you need to stop far right parties can’t meaningfully give their constituents anything else they want. This is the problem in Germany, France, and the UK.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 4mo ago
    Yes, describing political groups is literally "labelling". The idea that the UK's anti-immigrant far right aren't actually far right is just laughable.
    - rayiner 4mo ago
      Definitions must be consistent with each other. Conventionally, “right” means more capitalist and “left” means more socialist. To be consistent with that existing definition, the “far right” would be the folks trying to privatize social security, eliminate banking regulations, eliminate barriers to free trade, etc. It would refer to libertarians, not anti-immigration populists.
      - SideburnsOfDoom 4mo ago
        > To be consistent with that existing definition, the “far right” would be the folks trying to privatize social security, eliminate banking regulations, eliminate barriers to free trade, Yes, the far right parties in the UK are trying to do most of that (1) as well as inciting race riots against immigrants. I don't think that you have a point here. 1) not so much on the free trade, they talk a good fight on potential global trade deals, but their record is not so great - spurning actual EU free trade, going along with the USA's attempted trade wars. On that last point, the USA now is a counterexample to your criteria.