Let’s get straight into it. It’s 2023: we’re still feeling the effects of the pandemic, mental health is in decline, there are ongoing strikes, and a cool 7.2 million people are on NHS England waiting lists. But that’s not all. We don’t completely own our energy or rail services and government scandals keep piling up. These concern the same MPs who claim the unemployed are lazy, the strikers are greedy and that asylum seekers cost too much, all during a cost-of-living crisis that they helped orchestrate. I can’t help but think… why is everyone so fucking quiet?
Now, I don’t mean people like you and me, most of us are rightfully outraged, but we are part of an echo chamber. Our day-to-day involves dealing with the repercussions of bad policies carried out by even worse people. The extent of the damage that has been done to what many would consider to be one of the most innovative countries on the planet is far reaching, and where the blame lies is obvious. It’s not with the war in Ukraine or migrants or trans people, it’s actually with the Tory government.
Research has shown that Brexit is costing the UK more than £100 billion a year. The think tank Resolution Foundation has warned that we’re on track for a “disastrous decade” in terms of living standards, and if we’re already on track, then surely the worst is yet to come. Judging by the volume of damning viral videos and reports that continue to surface, our police force is basically running unregulated. Oh, and our government is opening a coal mine and throwing climate pledges in the bin, all while trying to get people to argue about whether trans people can use certain toilets. I’ll ask again: why is everyone so fucking quiet?
The use of language is very important. It inspires, it influences, it leads to changes in behaviour, and for the most part that’s great. But there’s not enough of that kind of language right now in the UK and we really need it. In 1978, Vanessa Redgrave used her Oscars speech to call out the treatment of Palestinian documentary makers by the Jewish Defense League, and in 2017 Meryl Streep rebuked Donald Trump while collecting an award at the Golden Globes. It’s people using their platforms like this who open the eyes of the public to critical situations.
But in the UK we can’t move for the abundance of loud and obnoxious opinions from those on the right. We left the EU partly due to Nigel Farage’s use of anti-immigration rhetoric and the lies told by the leave campaign. Before that Alan Sugar tweeted a doctored image of Jeremy Corbyn sitting in a car with Hitler. And last year, we had Jeremy Clarkson writing that he dreams of Meghan Markle being paraded naked through the streets while the public throw shit at her. Neither he nor Sugar has seen any real repercussions.
Inflammatory language is also used by those who hold the highest positions. In the year before he became prime minister, Boris Johnson compared Muslim women wearing the burqa to “letterboxes”, which was followed by a 375 per cent increase in Islamaphobic incidents. More recently the home secretary, Suella Braverman, used the term “invasion” while referring to people crossing the Channel in search of a new life in the UK – which came the day after a man threw petrol bombs at an immigration centre in Dover. This is real hate speech, but when someone left-leaning like the sports presenter Gary Lineker speaks out, the BBC suspends him. Are those on the right the only ones allowed to speak up?
We have a general election coming up in two years, and it’s time to change the narrative and get rid of the Tories, who have now held power for 13 years. They’ve stolen our money, cut public services, made the rich richer and the poor poorer, and spread hate and division on an immense scale. It’s simple. We need those with the loudest voices to stand up for the people who are suffer- ing at the hands of the government. I want to see the likes of Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and The 1975 encouraging the masses to go out to the polling stations and use tactical voting to get rid of what I think is a racist, bigoted and greedy government.
We must break this unspoken rule that celebrities, actors and musicians shouldn’t speak out about politics. It’s bullshit. Politics and policies affect everyone. We need to use our platforms and voices as much as we can. Politicians do not want celebrities and people in positions of power to speak out because it affects them and their wallets, but it’s our country, not theirs. It’s time to grow a pair; we need to use our voices for good because, if we don’t, we’re all fucked.
