There is a racism and cohesion crisis in Britain, and someone needs to lead us out of it. His name is Andy Burnham | Polly Toynbee

I want him to start the fightback next week against extremists who peddle hate and those who despise this country. That would be true patriotism

“The speech” may have been in the making a long while, maybe for a lifetime, but Andy Burnham has only a week left for revision before his first conference as Labour leader. Expect hope, of course, that the future will be better, though the way is hard. Already his optimism means that fewer people think they will be worse off next year. But his most urgent task is the cultural wildfire that needs extinguishing before it takes hold.

The rise of anti-migration neofascism is more threatening than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. Shock tactics by a few hundred people in black shirts and balaclavas are designed to invade the national consciousness, their noxious hate bleeding into the mainstream – and they do.

Continue reading…