I had a really hard time explaining to yanks that this wasn't prompted by anything in particular, Lochee is just Like That

Part of my confusion is that to the Scottish right kids like her are the untermensch who should be in camps and a symbol of broader social decline and whatnot.

Even saw a smug "you can't tax the rich they'll leave" in the wild there

Also, and this is generally rife, once someone develops strong political opinions they stop counting as a Normal Person and become an alien so rather than seeing them as advanced elements of the class we should tell them to stop it or something.

It's very: "hey guys, I've been out in the world now, and did you know it's not the same as university? Just thought you needed to hear that because I just worked it out so you certainly can't have known it already"

It must be from the primary

In popular usage I detect an unneeded embarrassment about the actual base of the left, like people with shitty laptop jobs aren't real people like builders. Often just to justify homophobia.

That said, my father in law is a northern english builder/plumber/electrician who used to be a drag queen.

Broadly agree. My first problem with it as a concept (as I've heard it described popularly) is that it appears to collapse a wide range of quite distinct people. Is PMC literal managers? Is it anyone with a laptop job, regardless of power or pay? Does it include baristas?

We should be aping Mamdani not the 1920s but that points to a class based coalition that pays due attention to identity and understands that "the class" is not mostly semiskilled male physical labourers any more, if it ever was, it's not Shipyards enough for some people.

Where's the money? Look at think tanks like @adamsmith.org - the recent "Reverse Gear" analysis of Motability (as a trojan for analysis of welfare) highlights nicely - a sustainable service provider with liquidity to maintain good service, a report complaining that shareholders can't extract profit.

Funny that the labour guy he's quoting is like "not our fault, productivity forecasts have been downgraded" you're the government!! Invest in something productive at scale!!

Arguably runs back to the radically egalitarian-democratic but also murderously socially authoritarian Presbyterians

It is interesting how Scotland has some of Britain's most progressive politics, but always with this thread of extremist bigotry, through orange lodges, the "keep the clause" movement and now its the hub of anti-trans bigotry, sheathed as it is under a faux-feminist veneer.

is Labour doing economic policy that's popular amongst their working class and pensioner vote? no

is Labour socially progressive enough for the urban, educated voters? also no

I said just the other day that Mamdani is a Hallist if there ever was one