Brexit byelection in Sleaford: a people united by fear for the future | Anywhere but Westminster

John Harris visits Sleaford in Lincolnshire, where 62% of people voted to leave the EU, and the Tories, Labour and Ukip are contesting a byelection on 8 December after the resignation of Conservative MP Stephen Phillips.
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Older voters are concerned about immigration and national identity, while younger people seem to be on a different planet. But could shared fears bridge the generation gap?
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[@christophermillerfagan1251]

vote leave to send pigeons back

[@unlimitedricepudding810]

go back to pigeonland

[@geinikan1kan]

The last bit, "bound up in that modernity," is brilliant. The idea that change is always for the best is one of the biggest lies of the modern world. Just watching Harris wander around these empty streets is quite something. Like the digital world had killed the real. Great job.

[@trevordaviesable]

you are right, we must go back to the horse and cart, we managed then without Europe and we can manage again.

[@benoitbvg2888]

So.... The Guardian.... It's been two years since you published this.... Can we get an update on that whole pigeon situation?

[@jakeronald568]

6 years now. How’s the Tory government?

[@TheAlbinoskunk]

"what's any of that to do with Brexit?" "well it's part of it, isn't it?""is it??"

[@ralphbernhard1757]

'...that shop has closed,...and there are too many pigeons...'...thanks EUROPE !!!!

[@shammydammy2610]

Don't forget, "My neighbors aren't as friendly as I think they should be. Thanks, EU!"

[@punkisinthedetails1470]

Yeah, Britain is a local shop for local people.

[@surbon514]

In her defence, that is a ridiculous amount of pigeons!

[@trevordaviesable]

@steph Oh yes!

[@P1mpMyBr1de]

Immigrants are entirely to blame

[@oxymoron02]

"This one closed two years ago... There's too many pigeons". Damn pigeons coming over here taking all our air!

[@HisameArtwork]

phahaha, that was gold

[@user-hx1nr9ru1p]

This demonstrates more than ever how badly education and investment are needed in the poorest areas, which we are just not seeing under the Tory government

[@darrenbellenger1]

Nor the last labour one

[@darrenbellenger1]

Ah so the blairytes aren't labour anymore! Got it

[@davebrennan1509]

Or ever under the working mans champion Labour who fucked everything up for everyone and you still vote for them what a prat.

[@KingCharles3]

Yes and Sleaford has 3 secondary schools in the centre and two are Grammar

[@pq3254]

why did you vote for brexit? to many pigeons.

[@dimitarfroze8046]

Paul Quinn they feel lonely. There is nothing to do anymore :(.

[@alfsmith4936]

I only wanted bendy bananas

[@ITOWords]

Another great piece, the press needs more jounalists who are willing to let people unlike themselves speak.

[@AOCACAB]

It's so sad to see such disillusionment without direction

[@lucykinski]

AOC93 I live here and the frustration is real

[@alfsmith4936]

They keep voting Tory. They ought to have learned by now..

[@SirSoppyBalls]

"too many pigeons" control pigeon imigration! lets take back control of our skies and roof tops

[@Spenner56]

"If they didn't like the answer, they shouldn't have asked the question". Brilliant. Obviously "they" asked the question only because they were expecting a different answer.

[@morbid1.]

I always wonder when right winged people say "back to old good days" but none of them can't tell when it was this "good old days"?

[@SimplyGimpy]

This is one of the more dangerous and tragic threads to pull in a society. The hallowed illusion of a mythical past, the pure people who are owed it, and the leaders who exploit that innate yearning, are all a recipe for things getting really grim, really quick.

[@jabbermocky]

I think they mean "back to the MYTH of the good old days", before reality could seep out of the carefully controlled conduits of misinformation. "Work hard, pay your debts, keep a positive attitude and all will go well in your life" has turned out to be pure bullshite. It's quite the reverse, actually, as the facts of global finance become glaringly clear. "Work? Hah! Only stupid little slobs work. Pay off debts? Hah! Endless debts are what make the rich richer. Keep a positive attitude? Hah! It's dog eat dog, mate, stay angry, hateful and cruel because THAT'S the only way to get ahead in this world." This has always been the formula for capitalist "success". Nostalgia for a past that never was is a form of mental illness.

[@9Q9M]

Chad Leach the left didnt say "Make America Great Again", now did they? It doesnt seem like that at all to me.

[@stocktonful2]

1960s

[@pahwraith]

@@stocktonful2 there were a lot of poor people in the 60s.

[@MrBeny]

Really like this guy. Good presenter.

[@remcovanek2]

Yes, open en inquisitive

[@anamariapopa9431]

So the old lady blames the cuts on buses on EU? And voted leave because she's neglected. I wonder why it's EU's fault and not Japan. Japanese old people have it worse than them, by her logic she should blame Japan.

[@mrbearbear83]

05:37 all I hear is greedy bosses laughing all the way to the bank knowing they are getting none of the blame.

[@zsht]

How dare leave voters laugh at the US for electing Trump.

[@alfsmith4936]

Leave voters never were the sharpest tools in the box..

[@aagg6124]

The main reason British people don't like the EU, is because they don't see the benefits in daily life (although they are there). Except the occasional holliday, they don't go abroad to shop, they don't go for a weekend to e.g. France, they don't buy foreign products as much, they stay in the UK to work and live, they can't speak more than one language (which makes going somewhere on the continent already more difficult), they pay with different money and have borderchecks (which again, makes travel and trade more difficult) and for one reason or another, contrary to the continent, they think that they will go back to their empire, and that the EU will collapse. Well let me tell you, form someons living on the other side of the channel, yes there are issues here as well, but at the end of the day we have more gains then losses from the EU, and the fact that all your tiny villages are worse of, is due to your own government rather than the EU, 'cause for example, EU legislation allows for stronger grips on immigration than the UK has put in place, so how can you blame them...?

[@rexstout8177]

"They think that they will go back to their empire." Seriously dude. Seriously.

[@johnmurray5573]

There are tens of thousands risking their lives in small boats to come from France to the UK none going the other way, not one.

[@turnitback]

So, tell me again how foreigners have caused the British not to attend on Remembrance Sunday and ignore their old folk?

[@LeedsUnitedJohn]

We voted to leave and that's that.

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

I like this video because it's unbiased. Guardian is probably the most leftist from the mainstream media and sometimes their articles make me cringe but this video actually tries to understand peoples intentions and choices without judging them even though their views represent the opposite of that of Guardian journalist and readers. Sure, almost everything these people mentioned was the fault of a Tory government and had nothing to do with EU but it shows how people's vote against EU was a vote against their own political establishment. And yeah, they will probably vote Tory in the next elections anyway.

[@markmoran916]

That’s because these cnuts are as thick as bricks 🙄

[@dantaylor7344]

Love the baby boomers generation, burnt every bridge that benefitted them, buggered up every generation that followed them and cared about only one people, themselves. Not sure how they sleep at night but I presume it's in a gold plated four poster bed.

[@aprice666]

HS2 part of he European Union he said, Jesus!

[@OwenJonesTalks]

Good to see ABW return.

[@ITOWords]

Dan Goodbad = prick

[@Commsfarage]

Roger Moore Hahah totally agree

[@darrenbellenger1]

Dan Goodard = hero! But seriously Owen knows his intellectual limits, he wouldn't go there

[@stash.]

Owen couldn't debate Milo Yiannopoulos he wouldn't have a Your "not gay" excuse to storm off stage with for lacks of a substantial arguments Owen vs *Milo* would be awesome but Owen would never do it

[@jamisbillson4872]

It’s not war against the EU. They are not the enemy. The Tories are.

[@Brickkzz]

Out is out! Get those bloody pigeons out!

[@Pierrick2009]

01:00 old guy complains about young people not attending Remembrance Sunday: 1-how is that because of the EU, and 2-go to any country on the continent and their equivalent of Remembrance Sunday is packed full of young people, so this is a British problem rather than an EU problem!

[@claudetteearle3052]

She reads the Guardian and voted out partly because she is lonely. Give me strength.

[@pinchermartyn3959]

The Guardian is finished as an impartial newspaper. This pro EU anti Brexit stance is nauseating. No question of democracy. The real questions. Lightweight and living in an arrogant, patronizing bubble that is London.

[@AJM-timecop]

"English people live in villages" ... err, no.

[@trevordaviesable]

the ignorance of older people is astounding complaining about things that has Nothing to do with the EU. It is all to do with the austerity that has been lumped on ordinary people and is due to the Financial collapse of 2008. Rid yourselves of conservatism and the connected banking system. Yes the EU needs some reform but it is miniscule against that which the 'light touch' that the banks were given.

[@Drumsgoon]

The young have been well indoctrinated

[@Pierrick2009]

01:00 old guy complains about young people not attending Remembrance Sunday: 1-how is that because of the EU, and 2-go to any country on the continent and their equivalent of Remembrance Sunday is packed full of young people, so this is a British problem rather than an EU problem!

[@xiaoyuanxu2012]

As always, John Harris gives us another high quality video. I may not agree with his stance (as I support out), but he is really showing everyone what the problem is.

[@charlie3251]

Young people keep pontificating that we older voters should be ignored when it comes to Brexit. I would say 3 things to that: 1) I'm old enough and ugly enough to remember life in the UK before we joined the "Common Market" as it was called in those days. Youngsters do not. 2) What life experience do young people have. Not very much. They leave school, where mummy and daddy told them what to do, when to do it and how to do it, go to university and suddenly they are experts. 3) I voted to join the "Common Market", not the EU, not for uncontrolled EU immigration, not for the ECJ, not for our parliament to be over-ruled by unelected commissioners, most of whom we have never heard of and certainly not for an EU army. If you haven't heard of the Kalergi plan, then you need to research it, tell all your family, friends and anyone else who will listen what it's about. Are we going to drift into another referendum as so many other EU countries have done, until we give them the "correct" answer?

[@alfsmith4936]

Did you learn your lesson yet?

[@andybray9791]

The guardian has become more middle class in its publishing during recent decades

[@alfsmith4936]

Not at all.. The working classes have become so dumbed down, they think any word with more than 2 syllables is middle class.

[@dantaylor7344]

Loneliness? WTF? Impending economic collapse, universal implosion of the UK political system and the misery of future massive job cuts............... yeah I suppose loneliness is right up there with major issues such as celebrity love island.

[@whelkshuffler]

"Tied up in Nottz" by Sleaford Mods. AWESOME SONG!

[@SuperIcekool]

To all Guardian readers, England starts outside the M25. What's good for Tower Hamets is not good for the shires which grows your food.

[@Pierrick2009]

Grows it but can’t pick it without relying on Eastern European workers apparently. Also, the tax revenue generated in London (including from the many foreigners who work there) essentially subsidise the shires

[@alansinclair394]

Why did the old people wait till they were old to push for this, why not do it when they were young ? A cynic might say that they didn't want to fuck up their future, whereas now they're old, they're happy, even ecstatic, to fuck up mine......Yup, thanks, old people.

[@sjw101thepoliticalgamer8]

Great report.

[@hifi8844]

Makes me laugh how she says online killed retail shopping on the high streets the councils always use it as an excuse too. Ok if that was case how come when I was in Belgium all shops were open. Its the UK government that's the problem no jobs to fuel economy in there desperate small towns.

[@alfsmith4936]

They complain the shops are empty and vote Tory so the landlords can keep increasing the rent, without worrying about paying more tax. 😂

[@bill-tk3xy]

Wow first time seeing sleaford in a doco thing, anyone else from sleaford 😂

[@mrbearbear83]

No, but at least they went there

[@LOPCOPIDS]

WHEN LAST HUMAN LEAVE THIS EARTH PIGEON WILL REPLACE US AND I AM HAPPY ABOUTE LOVE PIGEONS

[@claudetteearle3052]

These old people with their deep seated prejudices are already mostly out anyway. I am saying this and I am not young. In the final analysis it is tge young who will inherit so I will listen to them. These old people are just messing up Britain then buggering off to the next dimension. I say we need a second and final referandum and young people should get up off their rear and vote for what they believe in. Old people have no jobs to lose; young people have. Old people are largely in their secured homes; young people are already struggling and Brexit can only exacerbate their struggles.

[@jacquestange7151]

That interviewer is a real class act !!!!!

[@ThePixey1000]

The thing about the older Generation we remember what this country was like before the EU. The youth don't see they are heading for Globalisation when there will be a world with one government that will tell them to jump and the only answer they will be able to give is " How High" because their rights are already been taken away with out them even knowing.

[@isauris1]

You are so right.

[@markgable101]

I was trying to explain Brexit to an American friend. I said imagine if the US Congress, supreme Court,, state laws, President etc were overruled from Mexico or Bolivia. . Or had complete open borders to the whole population of South and central America....? She looked very very puzzled..

[@BossySwan]

This sums up why we were right to leave

[@brinjoness3386]

I like how he always tries to see their side and doesn't talk down on anyone.

[@NUBIANS2009]

Did the old woman call my president an global disaster? Laughable. Its her govt that has her living as she is.

[@Da1Dez]

2:44 I worry about our industrial future based on that.

[@Johnathon00790]

YOUNG REMOANERS...REMEMBER THEM OLDER PEOPLE YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT, MADE A BIG EFFORT TO WIN YOUR BATTLE OF BRITAIN, DONT BE SO SELFISH AND STOP BEING OFFENDED AND JOIN THE ARMY, YOU ARE FREE TO MAKE THAT COMMITMENT AND PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE LIKE MANY WHO LOST THEIRS FOR YOU WHO WERE UNABLE TO VOTE OR BE OFFENDED!!!

[@JacobScott0000]

interesting. good piece

[@EdgarAlexai]

This is my hometown. It looks such a bloody mess nowadays. This video just makes me sad. :(

[@StevieVBrown]

Alex E. Darko my home town too Alex, although I now live in Australia. It’s very sad, but the report is so biased too - they made out like only elderly people live there and they filmed on obviously quiet times on week days. Nobody mentioned all the people who commute to work and weren’t there because of that!

[@calixdazeroth1422]

it´s like having an argument about the glass being half empty or half full.

[@minimead368]

Every person in this video just blamed Europe for our countries own failings, it’s so f***ing depressing! Do people not possess any critical thinking skills I’m mean honestly Jeasus 😱🧠💥

[@leostar.7]

They should have stayed with the eu.

[@bobdylan9660]

1:25 the most middle class complaint ever

[@radiojet1429]

Now that Article 50 is triggered, Britain may find that, like America, she has lost her ever-lovin' mind....we have, over on this side of the pond, for sure. Wouldn't you agree?

[@NarutoScreenplay]

a young person saying older people should not be able to have a say because they won't live through it, not realizing that she will soon be an old person, and just having invalidated and deplatformed herself from having any say because she is an old person in training.

[@joeybarnes01]

These poor young kids, have no sense of the importance of the decisions that need to be made and reduce their arguments to purile ageism not the principles of democracy.

[@janduke4726]

Your age group dont want to work what's wrong with factory work miss would do you good and one thing you lot forget you will be old one day and then you would say we want our say to

[@joker_g7337]

People's ideas are nothing else than leaflets slogans. Word for word. 1 Penny for an original thought, a personal idea, a little of our own brain's sweat please?

[@MrMmnngghh]

playing Sleaford Mods in Sleaford....nice one.

[@juniormartin3528]

you people were fooled into thinkin' that brexit will be the paradise you voted for.

[@markheeley4860]

Just vote for ukip get rid of bias media out of Europe now if there is a Europe left to get out of

[@simonhksc2119]

There's too many pigeons, not enough people at remembrance day services, nothing to do. 21st century has passed Lincolnshire by completely and seems Brexit is the only answer. Some of the most juvenile worldview from our older generation with the crappest reasons for voting Brexit.

[@didierlemoine6771]

Farage put u in a big mess but there will be no return at all, article 50 please :)))

[@Lamilton82828]

Looks like Gosport

[@ric6383]

Any one believes the guardian can be unbiased in living in fantasy land!

[@MattPfromPC]

Good point at the end. I don't expect that from the Guardian.

[@richardmurphy9006]

poisoning pigeons in the park

[@williamread5652]

You can almost hear the lefty Guardian interviewer chewing on broken glass when he interviews Leavers! Rag!

[@marccawood]

He's certainly right that we are seeing modernity confront post-modernity... and the Left is unfortunately stuck in modernity. Trump and Boris speak to people's feelings and thus do well at the polls when the Left harps on about science and economics and facts...

[@GavinFreedomLover]

Always on about a divide trying to cause trouble all the time.

[@jmasri2717]

Absolutely!! 100% As a 16 year old I think we need to turn the clock back a good 50 years! (Not a troll)

[@glenquinn6853]

asking drop out on the corner

[@ghostfires]

it's like a vision of hell

[@jameslincs]

ghostfires hey, I live here, it's actually really nice. People here are not stupid or racist, this is a shockingly bad bias report by the guardian. I normally vote conservative but am voting UKIP now, and I hope the tories know they lost this seat because they didn't take Brexit seriously, I don't even care who gets in, as long as the tories lose enough votes to UKIP to wake them up. It's not ok to rebrand eu membership and pretend Brexit happened. We want proper Brexit.

[@likklej8]

Thanks for using the Mods tune. Old values are boring new generation new culture.

[@StormySeb]

Would have been better for him to go around London asking remain voters what they think of Brexit voters.

[@Pierrick2009]

Except Remain voters tend to be at work during the day

[@Commsfarage]

God bless you old bastards from a lad in his 20s #BREXIT

[@Commsfarage]

Induxvideos you have the chance to vote them out unlike the EU so point invalid

[@markgable101]

The old people pay taxes. Young people don't.

[@peterstevens4471]

Those people should have voted ukip,we all should if we want to leave the EU why not,believe me here is nothing else we an do if we really want to leave.

[@zandor5657]

yes stop HS2 and support the rest or the network

[@marccawood]

We're old and we worry about our kid's future so we vote Brexit so our kids can have our glorious past. There is a logic there... but it's nostalgic wish-dreaming.

[@colinbason]

Old people need to stay out? So a young persons vote is worth more than an old persoms vote?

[@denisdaly1708]

A young person has all tgeir work ing years ahead, and they have families to rare in the future. They have more at steak. That's life. I hope you are that.

[@colinbason]

@@denisdaly1708 Well where do we draw the line then? Shall we say all over 65s can't vote anymore because they should have retired? Everyone gets one vote and they're all equal to each other.

[@terrahawk1977]

Very safe Tory seat sleaford/north hykeham is my seat 2019 election got 25.000 majority

[@gordonbradley199]

40 yrs of thatcherism. This is a what it looks like !

[@Jon908584]

Would you have preferred 40 years of Scargill or the now millionaire Kinnocks?

[@markussavicus6695]

Trump global disaster????? American success.

[@karlnelson7550]

those two silly birds from one life, one life's gone now ha haaa

[@jeremyatkinson4976]

Vote for Brexit so we can be young again.

[@Eddie-je8qp]

yeah but its always been hard for young people. Brexit either way wont change that. will it change the homeless situation?? no!

[@remcovanek2]

We're british ...these Londoners (not british?). Gosh, why has that girl a pinneedle in her upper lip. Is that british?

[@clevercat9774]

This is like a freakshow of Brexiteers😂

[@ckb6091]

WHEN THE OLD DIE THE BLICKS WILL MORE IN

[@gixxermaan]

I'm young and I voted out and every other young person I new voted out aswell, so it's not just old people voting brexit, it just fits the lefty narrative. all ages and races voted for brexit

[@johnthatcher2349]

BREXIT means Brexit. I'm not old and I want out.

[@5888max]

Nasty foreign pigeon's Brexit will soon but a stop to their little game , back in the good old days we had nice flocks of Pterosaurs flying round here

[@antoniaswift3995]

The older people have a just and well founded anger. The younger generation have an amoral attitude to life in general are frivolous and to me almost void of a soul!

[@ZonkzUK]

as soon as I saw sleaford in the title it made me think of the sleaford mods, then I hear one of the their songs playing in the intro

[@stevebaconlettuceandtomato8353]

They aren't from Sleaford.sure their from Grantham.the cherry Tree was in Grantham .

[@bim-ska-la-bim4433]

LOL...reaction to Trump...good piece - liked how it showed how each side can alienate the other. Hi England from the US (waves)

[@martinmargerrison2300]

Sleaford.... Ah yes, a place that has a choice of 2 bypasses both north to south and east to west. Halfway between Smegmess and Groantham. The epicentre of cultural bankruptcy. Good place to buy potatoes (wide choice of varieties). Famous people from Sleaford... Eric Thompson who narrated "The Magic Roundabout" (a hallucinations-based children's fantasy). River "Slea" literally means slimey or sludgey. Numerous references to the Middle Ages on historic websites. Greetings card shop went out of business as you only need one card for all your relatives, many of whom have surnames directly related to vegetables or geographical features (Mr Carrot, Broccoli, Turnip, Ditch, Cesspool etc). My friend Steve delivers here and normally phones me for comforting advice before entering the town centre. Cutting edge journalism if ever.