I read Rohan Sathyamoorthy’s piece (I thought I was growing up in a racially tolerant Britain. I now realise I was wrong, 7 September) and thought – “it’s not just in my head”. The far right isn’t creeping back. It’s marching in, boots on, flags waving, and people are clapping along like it’s Eurovision.
As a working-class woman of colour, I’m exhausted. Not just from the racism and misogyny, but from how normal it’s all starting to feel again. Like we’re rewinding to a time when public figures could say vile things about migrants, Muslims or “woke women” and still get invited on to Question Time with a smile and a fresh haircut. The vile attitudes that Rohan’s dad had to endure are resurfacing.
Meanwhile, people are glued to Love Is Blind, pretending none of it’s happening. And honestly? Fair play. Life’s hard enough. Bills are brutal, jobs are insecure and the world’s basically on fire both literally and politically. But while we’re debating which walking red flag should marry whom on telly, men accused of violence against women are being platformed as truth-tellers. Athletes and celebrities with long rap sheets still trend like national heroes.
This isn’t just racism. It’s misogyny dressed up as “anti-establishment”. It’s scapegoating, gaslighting and old-fashioned hate, but now with better lighting and TikTok filters. I get the temptation to switch off. To scroll past, to self-care my way into oblivion. But we don’t have that luxury any more. Not if you’re a woman or brown or broke, or all three.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the far right is getting organised. If we don’t want to wake up in a country where our rights are up for debate on breakfast TV, we need to get organised too. Less doomscrolling, more disrupting. Less silence, more shouting.
Aleisha Omeike
London
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