Marx in the middle: the rise of class consciousness in Britain

马克思居中:英国阶级意识的兴起

Editor's Picks from The Economist

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2025-06-04

8 分钟
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A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. British politicians once courted the middle class and pandered to their needs. Since Brexit, however, they've mostly been ignored, to their dismay. Some in the middle class are revolting.  Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. 
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  • The Economist Hello, this is Rosie Blore,

  • co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.

  • Welcome to Editor's Picks.

  • We've chosen an article from the latest edition of The Economist that we thought you might enjoy.

  • Please do have a listen.

  • The best place to consider class consciousness in Britain today is beneath the canvas of a £283 per night,

  • that's $381, yurt at Hay Festival, a literary jamboree in Wales.

  • Revolutionary fervour is building among those who clamp,

  • as if someone had given Colonel Gaddafi a subscription to the London Review of Books.

  • Here in Heyon Wye, the men behind Led by Donkeys,

  • an unapologetically middle-class campaign group that emerged via anti-Brexit gimmicks,

  • can pack out an arena.

  • Alastair Campbell, a once-disgraced spinner turned centrist lodestar,

  • speaks to sell-out crowds,

  • imploring an audience in expensive walking shoes to channel their anger into a force for change.

  • The middle classes are mad as hell and they are not going to take it anymore.

  • Class consciousness is a simple concept.

  • Before an oppressed class can throw off their shackles,

  • they must know how hard they have it.

  • Karl Marx had workers in mind when he devised it.