David Goodhart: Are you an 'Anywhere' or a 'Somewhere'? - Viewsnight

Viewsnight is BBC Newsnight's place for ideas and opinion. Here, David Goodhart, from the think tank Policy Exchange, argues that the UK is divided into two rival camps. He is author of the new book The Road to Somewhere: the populist revolt and the future of politics. Agree? Disagree? Let us know. More views on the Viewsnight playlist • Viewsnight
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[@chonnerone2964]

He is so spot on with this. I haven't read his books yet but listened to hours of his talks - he is spot on. Also says there is nothing wrong with being either Somewhere or Anywhere. I am definitely both.

[@stevefarable]

So am I believe.

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

I was a somewhere became an anywhere and now in middle age am seeking to make re-entry into somewhere.

[@chrisdstard5644]

So common sense and practicality finally triumphed over idealism and curiosity?

[@johnneville403]

Utterly brilliant analysis of our current problems. I speak as an anywhere who know feels an increasing anger at the treatment and vilification in some sections of the mainstream media of the somewheres.

[@VaucluseVanguard]

I’m any anywhere but I respect and have no desire to destroy the lives and communities of somewheres. In that, I like to think I’m a relative exception among anywheres.

[@Notallowed101]

Why is this opinion sidelined in todays discourse when we all know it?

[@jeanraspail2979]

The Left and their mainstream dominating media don't like reflected and rational examination of views they disagree with.

[@WouterDeHeij]

He is spot on. Not only relevant for UK, but also a situation in The Netherlands.

[@wtade]

I know some anywheres who voted for Brexit as they valued national identity and hated the bureaucrats in Brussels.

[@russellwhite1581]

Brexit was a coalition of anywheres who thought that the EU prevented the UK from business deals with the developing world and the opportunity to source cheaper labour and products for import, and somewheres who wanted the opposite, to the extent of national protectionism and localism.

[@davis7099]

Correct on so many levels

[@keyboarddancers7751]

He's articulated (far more eloquently) EXACTLY what I'd been saying for a long time. Large numbers of people were being told "YOU cannot say things of which WE don't approve". Well that's not an effective long term strategy as long as we have an electoral system based on a secret ballot, hence the brexit outcome.

[@jmorrison230582]

I don't see how these two groups (and their supposed values) are mutually exclusive.

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Yeah.

[@JeffBrown518]

I don't believe they are mutually exclusive, necessarily, but I completely resonate with the distinction between "somewheres" and "anywheres."

[@vernonhedge4530]

Dunno, maybe he has looked at some data and has made a good enough statistical model to draw these conclusions. This means it is good enough to make valid inferences, but does not 100% predict every individual (very, very, very few statistical models do, that is not their value or their purpose).

[@Coneman3]

@- Joseph Agree, I find their attitudes often contemptible. They exploit, but at the same time, think they are the saviours. They are either stupid or have ben brainwashed. Lazy thinking also explains a lot imo.

[@russellwhite1581]

...The Green Party tries to paint itself as both "localist" and "globalist" but anti-nationalist. But if nationalism is anti-globalist, then localism is even more so.

[@torak1298]

Read his book "The road to somewhere", its v v v good

[@Coneman3]

I have and he's spot on. Meritocratic hubris, blindness, arrogance and oversimplification explains a lot. Anywhere's would rather worry about female and ethnic quotas than the plight of the oppressed poor and the fact they have virtually no political voice.

[@brentfriedland]

Brilliant

[@sjw101thepoliticalgamer8]

Its a pity that people in the comments section don't understand that Goodhart is actually supporting their position. Instead of feeling upset or offended that you have been categorised, how about listening to what he is saying?

[@leon6777]

It's his lack of justification for this and poor example-giving of a paradigm that sounds like it makes sense at face value but when you examine his examples it's just laden with buzzwords which can be interpreted different ways by different people, depending on your worldview.

[@pietrosf4179]

Brilliant analysis! Truly inspirational content for social thinkers and aspiring futurologists!

[@rafthejaf8789]

There is nothing brilliant about it. It's simplictic, half baked populist crap!

[@Coneman3]

@@rafthejaf8789 you clearly don't understand.

[@rafthejaf8789]

@@Coneman3 Enlighten me!

[@Coneman3]

@@rafthejaf8789 Read his book

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Not a bad vid, but: This is not a zero sum game. It's not about "One group needs to shut up, in order for the other to breathe.". Instead, what needs to be changed are the mental boundaries in people's heads, which are partly down to classism. The arguments presented here simplify the whole thing into there being two stereotypical groups. But those groups don't really exist. People can fall under both groups. There are overlaps between the groups and different facets to these groups. They're not monolithic. In fact, these groups are just what they are: Broad generalisations. Humans dislike thinking in details, because generalisations ease perception. The kicker: Using them over and over again can also divide. And become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We love constantly putting people into boxes, but nothing backfires more than that. Understanding people, even ones me or you disagree with, is not as simple as ditching them into a neatly labelled box. If we believe in simple "there are two groups of people in the world, no variation in or beyond that whatsoever" formulas, we're only fooling ourselves from seeing a more accurate and more specific picture of the whole situation. I'm from another country, but in my daily life, I'm just as much a hypothetical "Somewhere" as I am a hypothetical "Anywhere". I don't have a crisis of faith over that. I don't feel the need to jump into a neatly prescribed box. That some people do and can only get by with such a narrow-minded worldview of either flavour is their loss, wherever they live.

[@timdean1326]

The only thing that matters is tribe.

[@MIRANDA1815]

Dave!

[@sidney001]

Bang on the money!

[@sourabhbhattacharya3411]

Wow...

[@stefanpettersson1914]

Gemeinschaft (somewheres) vs gesellschaft (anywheres).

[@stef1773]

The country is split between those who accuse those of bigotry and those who know the true meaning of the word

[@equant]

I think UBI will extinct a good amount of white from somewhere, because telecommuting is far from being optimised.

[@JOHNTSHEA]

Interesting. But far from a new idea. And the use of thr firdt person plural "WE" is deceptive. He does not reallu include himself or his target audience in that slippery *WE".

[@BrianJ1962]

Pure spin. Many of your 'somewheres' also have attributes you assert as belonging to 'anywheres' - and vice-versa. A more accurate dichotomy would be "haves" and "have-nots" - and yes, given the dominance and control the 'haves' exert on the 'have-nots' at a survival level, I think you're merely re-packaging this (more obvious) divide for political reasons.

[@GammaSouljah]

There are plenty of somewheres who have a lot of money. and plenty of anywheres with not much money

[@robbiepeterh]

I’m a nowhere; I don’t fit into either cataloged so don’t even try. You’d categorise me as an anywhere but I find the anywheres just as narrow-minded as the somewheres. Artists never belong: we’re children for ever. We’re nowhere, in neverland and our friends are the lost boys ✌🏼

[@Aan_allein]

artists are by definition anywheres. How many artists do you think see themselves as nationalists , opposed to social liberalism or see their nation as their home to be protected from degradation and violence?

[@loca8048]

"We, anywheres" should be changed to "We, male anywheres" based on item #4.

[@Laurie1UK]

i will give you all an example of the anywheres and the difference between them and the somewheres the anywheres like to meet to discuss matters like helping the community but actually do very little they will join campaigns but will they collect for local charities, or help organise the dance in the local social club - no that would mean having to talk to people they pretend to support but they don't really want to have anything to do with on a personal level. after all they may be doing what are left of the technical type jobs David refers to and wont have degrees- I attended recently a local fund raising event for a Labour Club which was not attended by any Labour councillors let alone the MP or senior politicians, Im sure the same would be the case for a Tory Club fund raiser event the anywheres are above all snobs who don't understand the core working class beliefs of work, place and family.

[@GammaSouljah]

the problem mate is that the old meaning of work and place has been totally pulled from under the feet of somewheres who all did the same job like ther father and his father for life and in the same place. That pretty much does not exit anymore and is probably never coming back. Brexit was also an attempt to get that back but its clutching at straws in that regard.

[@WeTubule]

Gamma- If youcare to be understood, try using punctuation. You may as well have written this in Cockney slang.

[@russellwhite1581]

The Penge Labour Party is fully "anywhere" in mindset. They even have their own pubs where they mix with other anywhere left-liberal middle classes and never mix with the "knuckle-draggers" apart from every 4 years when they seek our vote...

[@tomdrowry]

At least someone of Jewish descent, David Goodhart is the grandson of Mayer Lehmann the founder of Lehmann brothers, is finally acknowledging that British identity and culture should be protected, he has been ostracised by other elites though.

[@chonnerone2964]

Is that so. I really like him. I am working class and I have concerns that Anywhere's don't understand us, worse - condemn us. This thinking is the right kind of thinking ... I think.

[@russellwhite1581]

Wikipedia says that his father Philip Goodhart "wrote the definitive account of the referendum campaign in 1975, Full-hearted Consent". I met Philip Goodhart once. He came running along our road in Beckenham one election (1983?) looking to meet the voters.

[@jamesburke2094]

anywheres just use their vote to gain official status of a degree where unmerited / gain income where unmerited (frequently from the taxpayer)

[@republicofsandles]

Being individuals onto themselves and aside from ethnic, national and gender identities are essential for most people to determine, express and better their egos. The 'somewheres' live in a romantic vision of the past and select only elements of reality which appease their superegos. The nuclear family has always been deleterious to the individual, but it enjoys tax credits and unquestioning social approval from the majority of the population. In a time when so many college educated people are living with their parents into their 30's, it seems evident that the nuclear family has not declined but rather become mandatory, no matter the situation among people who just so happen to be related. The real divide in Europe (incl. the UK) and the United States, is between a materially privileged and under-educated elder generation, and an informed but depressed youthful generation.

[@republicofsandles]

From an Irish perspective I can say from my view that elders and parochial traditionalists seek to use poverty as weapon, to dull the intuition of a promising generation, and regress social to essentially what it has been, save that now 1 in 10 marriages will be gay.

[@UochRS]

"we anywheres are wary of group identities" - highly educated hypocrite

[@jackjones5920]

did you even listen to the whole sentence?

[@leon6777]

He literally makes up buzzwords with very little justification and the justification he does use is rife with false equivalencies and yes; more buzzwords. He says the "anywhere's" are doing nothing to stop the decline of the "traditional family" (whatever that means, is it a limit on heterosexual marriages or is it ethnically homogeneous marriages too?) without justifying why the traditional family is a good model.

[@Aan_allein]

let me guess. You are a homosexual?

[@leon6777]

@@Aan_allein I'll tell you if you tell me how that's relevant.

[@Crusse89]

The justification for supporting a traditional family model is that more people want it. That is why a move away from it upsets more people than it pleases. There is no fundamentally legitimate justification for any specific family order.

[@leon6777]

@@Crusse89 so we're not free to do what we want, to protect the feelings of snowflakes that think the "family model" should always stay the same?

[@Crusse89]

@@leon6777 of course you are, but since more people support the ”traditional family model”, policies that seeks to break it up will over time gain more detractors than supporters.

[@devils1]

very condescending, sneering at less well educated people

[@Brickkzz]

look up the stats for brexit voters and educational attainment.

[@artski09]

educational attainment in what is the real question

[@glassmuxxic]

Read the book - if anything he's more sympathetic to 'somewheres' to 'anywheres.'

[@glassmuxxic]

Read the book - what constitutes educational attainment has changed drastically. A remain voting who recently graduated with a theatre studies degree from a low-grade poly would, by the implied estimation on educational attainment, be more 'qualified' to pronounce on public policy than someone who left school at 16 with middling attainment (commonplace until recent decades) who has developed and run their own successful business.

[@chonnerone2964]

He's not. Listen to his talks. He defends Somewhere people. He is spot on.