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Are the UKs culture wars real, imagined, exaggerated or manufactured? This is becoming one of the key questions of our times, but, as with so much else in culture war debates, you can always find evidence to support your preferred interpretation.

For example, our new study shows that three-quarters of the public think that the media often makes the country feel more divided than it really is. Nearly half agree that politicians invent or exaggerate culture wars as a political tactic, and only one in ten actively disagree with this.

More generally, few people have very strong feelings on many of the cultural issues at the heart of prominent debates. For example, only one in ten or fewer strongly agree or strongly disagree that UK culture is changing too fast, or that theyd like the UK to be the way it used to be.

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Opinion: We should take the idea of Britain's 'culture wars' seriously understanding division is important - The Independent

Did the pictures of Boris Johnsons third, secret wedding charm and disarm you? Spellbound, were you, by the images showing his barefoot bride in a crown of fresh flowers and a rented designer dress (45)?

Millions clearly were. Anything resembling the frock was sold out online. In one masterstroke, these two made themselves into the nations sweethearts.

Those devastating accusations made by Dominic Cummings, Carries costly flat makeover paid for by the Cabinet Office, lies daily tossed out by key government ministers, were all forgotten as the sun shone down on the couple. Cynicism was as unwelcome as a fart at the laden table.

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For voters interested in gung-ho pursuits, the Government lays on daily brawls in public spaces between the un-woke proud patriots, protectors of buffed histories and defenders of the realm and their imagined enemies.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, a man of low presence and low cunning, appears to be on a cultural cleansing mission. Arts and heritage institutions and academia are packed, or so he feverishly believes, with Marxists and other traitors. Board members suspected of being liberal, left or egalitarian are being edged out and replaced with men and women loyal to the Governments agenda.

A new Heritage Advisory board has been created, chaired by Trevor Phillips, the black Briton most trusted by the great and the good from left to right. He agrees with Mr Dowden, who wants institutions to retain and explain symbols of contested histories. How will establishment bowdlerizers explain slavery and the oppression of the powerless in this country and the colonies?

A new, large survey by Ipsos Mori for the Policy Institute at Kings College, London, found that 44 per cent of those polled think politicians invent or exaggerate culture wars as a political tactic. Furthermore, only a minority are not proud to be British, or are uncomfortable with the pace of change.

These findings will not discourage right wing- media outlets or government ministers and their well-chosen friends in high places. They will carry on serving their own interests indefatigably.

Juvenal, a Roman poet from the early second century, fretted about the way people, diverted by bread and circuses, were failing in their civic duties to hold rulers to account. Our population is similarly appeased with circuses, even though millions are wretched or falling into indescribable hardships.

Among them are two million private renters who will no longer be protected from eviction at the end of this week. According to the homelessness charity Shelter, 72 per cent are terrified of losing their homes. They have already cut back on heating and food bills. Their children are hungry.

Shelter, where I once worked, was set up in 1966, a time when the country had a massive housing crisis, slum dwellings, and an unseen, unheard underclass few cared about. Ken Loachs film Cathy Come Home, which depicts a young, homeless family and was shown in that year, shamed and aroused the nation. During the pandemic, 37,000 people sought help from Shelter. But today most folk are indifferent to their plight and pain.

Our state schools are falling ever further into disrepair. Tory and collation governments alike have delayed embarking on this major, urgent project and now the bill has reached 11bn. Just before lockdown I went to one school in the East End of London. The toilet walls were black with damp; there had been a rat infestation in the kitchen and the classrooms were truly grim. To the governing elite men like Ian Duncan Smith, George Osborne, David Cameron, Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak these lost and failed children must be collateral damage, or perhaps sacrifices to appease the gods of capitalism.

According to government estimates from March this year, up to 14.5 million people one in four were in poverty in 2019-20. The Big Issue reports that another 700,000 people were plunged into hardship during the pandemic.

The Chancellor has given some state help to needy households, but not nearly enough. More than 3 million self-employed citizens have had nothing.

The Trussell Trust, which runs 1,200 food bank centres, had distributed 2.5 million food parcels in the year between April 2020 and March 2021, the equivalent of more than two parcels every minute and vastly more than ever before.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror recently reported that Sunaks billionaire wife claimed 100,000 in furlough money last December; while Samantha Cameron claimed thousands to pay her staff. Mr Johnson and his missus got 27,000 of posh organic food delivered to them in unmarked bags, some of it paid for by the wife of a Tory donor, according to the Daily Mail.

Britons should be full of wrath, but most are occupied by the frolics of Mr and Mrs Johnson and performative populism, both calculated, organised diversions. How can anyone with a conscience feel proud of this outrageously manipulated democracy.

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Boris Johnsons wedding and the culture wars are designed to distract us from the UKs spiralling poverty - iNews

I havent agreed with every position Gov. Eric Holcomb has taken, but overall, he has reminded me of the Republican Party to which I used to belonga time when serious people concerned themselves with issues of governance rather than initiating constant battles in Americas culture wars.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is a perfect example of the culture warriors who dominate todays GOP, so I was startled when he joined members of the General Assembly in defending residents right to control their own bodies, a position admirably articulated by Martinsville Rep. Peggy Mayfield:

Hoosiers should have the right to make health care decisions that best suit their families, their personal medical circumstances, and a broad interpretation of their religious beliefsa concept that were disappointed to see Indiana University has rejected.

The genesis of this remarkable turnaroundnot just by our desperate-for-attention AG, but from a number of firmly anti-choice legislatorswas Indiana Universitys decision to require students and employees to be vaccinated in order to return to in-person instruction. In an opinion that most lawyersand several members of the General Assemblydescribed as a reach, Rokita is claiming that a bill passed during the last legislative session prohibits the university from doing so.

I will leave the legal arguments to practicing lawyers, but I cant restrain myself from pointing to the unbelievable hypocrisy displayed by Rokitas sudden support for the fundamental liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.

The statement that Hoosiers should have the right to make health care decisions that best suit their families and religious beliefs is, without a doubt, correct. It is precisely the point of the pro-choice position, which I will note is not a pro-abortion position. The issue is not what decision is madeit is who has the authority to make it.

What is particularly ludicrous about this sudden concern for an individuals right to control of his or her own bodycoming as it does from rabidly pro-life folksis that it is so inconsistent with their willingness to trample those same constitutional protections in order to appeal to constituencies displaying absolutely no regard for the protection of personal autonomy.

Ironically, Indiana Universitys decision to require vaccinations is self-evidently a pro-life decision. The university is following the science and acting to protect the life and health of the entire university community. (Of course, the people they are protecting have already been born, which evidently makes a difference.) And as a friend recently noted, IUs action protects the lives of multiple individuals who are not similarly endangered by a womans decision to terminate a pregnancy.

Republicans in Indianas Legislaturedominated as that body is by rural interests, thanks to gerrymanderinghave stridently opposed Holcombs efforts to minimize the dangers of the pandemic. They have moved to erode the governors power to act swiftly to mitigate future threats to Hoosier health and safety, all in the name of a freedom they are manifestly unwilling to extend to people who use that freedom in ways with which they disagree.

Our ambitious attorney general has cast his lot with those Republicans, whoit must be admittedare representative of what the Grand Old Party has become. Rick Wilsonone of the Lincoln Group of prominent ex-Republicansrecently opined that todays GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln; it is now the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The grandstanders, culture warriors and conspiracy theorists are waging war on Holcomb and other remnants of the old GOP.

__________

Kennedy recently retired as professor of law and public policy at the Paul H. ONeill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI.

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Sheila Kennedy: Holcomb, Rokita and the radicalization of the GOP - Indianapolis Business Journal

Former Vice President Mike Pence made headlines during his stop in New Hampshire, as he gave his most extensive comments to date about the Jan. 6. insurrection at the U.S. Capitol while delivering the keynote address Thursday night at the Hillsborough County GOPs annual Lincoln-Reagan awards dinner and fundraiser.

The former vice president considered by pundits to be a likely 2024 Republican White House contender has been in a precarious position among some the GOP base since the storming of the Capitol by right wing extremists and other supporters of then-President Donald Trump aiming to disrupt congressional certification of now-President Joe Bidens Electoral College victory over Trump.

Pence was at the Capitol at the time it was attacked, overseeing the joint session of Congress. By following his Constitution duties instead of bending to Trumps wishes and overturn the results, Pence has endured the wrath of the former president and some of Trumps most devout loyalists and supporters.

In his speech at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Manchester, Pence who along with members of Congress was forced to move to secure rooms while the Capitol was stormed called the attack a dark and tragic day in American history. But he emphasized that same day we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

Pence, Trumps loyal right hand man the past four years, pointed to his now frayed relationship with the former president.

I dont know if well ever see eye to eye about that day, he said.

He quickly added that he remainsproud of the administrations goals and actions.

I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years, Pence said tothe sold out audience of more than 360 Granite State conservative leaders and activists, who rose to their feet in applause.

Pence alluded to the unsuccessful push by congressional Democrats to pass legislation setting up a Jan. 6 commission to investigation the insurrection which was thwarted by GOP leadership in the U.S. Senate.

I will not allow the Democrats and their allies in the media to use one tragic day to discredit the aspirations of millions of Americans, he said.

Longtime New Hampshire based national GOP strategist David Carney, who attended the dinner, told the Monitor that it was smart for Pence to spotlight his differences with Trump over the insurrection while equally highlighting the Trump-Pence administration achievements.

Everyone I talked to in the crowd after the fact thought it was a great way to do it, added Carney, a veteran of Republican presidential campaigns for more than three decades.

Pence received roughly a dozen standing ovations during his speech, which included biting attacks on Biden and his administration. He blasted the current president for failed leadership and accused the Biden administration of incompetence, saying I dont think the left hand knows what the far left hand is doing.

The former vice president also dove directly in to the nations culture wars by attacking critical race theory, which aims to definesystemic racism as part of American society and takes aim at the beliefs that allow it to exist. Its become the latest cultural flash point, as numerous Republican governors and lawmakers across the country move to prevent it from being taught in schools. At least five GOP-controlled state legislatures have passed bans on critical race theory or related topics in recent months, and conservatives in at least nine other states are pressing for similar measures.

The former vice president charged that one of the most disturbing developments of the past few months has been the Biden Administrations whole-hearted embrace of the radical lefts all-encompassing assault on American culture and values. Under the Biden Administration, patriotic education has been replaced with political indoctrination.

It is time for America to discard the left-wing myth of systemic racism once and for all. America is not a racist nation, Pence declared to thunderous applause.

Pence was introduced by his good friend and fellow Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.

Sununu said that the former vice president is first and foremost my friend.

Hes just a good guy. His heart is absolutely in the right place, Sununu said.

Sununu spoke hours after he sparked a political firestorm by saying he wouldnt veto New Hampshires next two year budget over language that would ban abortions after 24 weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Sununus comments, made during an interview with radio host Chris Ryan on New Hampshire Today, were quickly condemned by Granite State Democrats.

As Pence was meeting with Sununu at the State House in Concord on Thursday afternoon, New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley took aim at both Republicans.

Mike Pence is one of the most anti-choice politicians in America, and his extreme agenda is so toxic in New Hampshire that he and Donald Trump lost the state twice. Its not a coincidence that Governor Sununu came out in favor of an abortion ban in New Hampshire on the same day that hes meeting with Pence. Pence and Sununus anti-choice positions might play well with the most extreme elements of the Republican party, but it is wildly out of step with New Hampshire, Buckley charged.

A couple of hours later, an energized Sununu topped his comments at the Hillsborough County GOP dinner by touting that this state is crushing it. We really are.

After spotlighting the states number one ranking in some COVID safety and economic metrics, the governor emphasized that this is the place to be. It really is.

And Sununu once again made his case for smaller government.

Its not about getting a bigger and better government system, he said.Im the head of government and Im telling you you shouldnt trust government. Trust yourselves. Trust your cities and towns. Trust local control.

Pences trip to New Hampshire is sparking more speculation that hell seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. Its the former vice presidents second stop this year in one of the early voting primary states. Pence in April traveled to South Carolina, which holds the first southern contest and votes right after New Hampshire in the Republican nominating calendar, to give his first post-Trump presidency address. It was also the first in-person visit to New Hampshire this year by any of the potential GOP White House hopefuls.

Carney noted that the work that the vice presidents doing here, helping out building local parties, helping candidates across the country. That will really pay off for him if he decides to move forward going into the 2024 cycle.

Whatever candidate wants to be president has to focus their efforts on 22 and making sure we take House back, we pick up the Senate, we hold our governorships. Thats what will make the difference on who will be in the first round of top tier candidates, he said.

And former state House Speaker Bill OBrien, who remains a leader on the right, said the conservative community is a broad community even in New Hampshire, stretching from libertarians to more traditional conservatives. A whole bunch of that community would look at a fellow like Mike Pence and say hes us. Hes somebody that we could clearly come behind.

The Hillsborough GOP told the Monitor that Thursday nights dinner was its largest and most lucrative ever.

The Rockingham GOP announced on Friday that another potential Republican 2024 contender Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas will be in New Hampshire on July 17 to headline a breakfast at the Atkinson Country Club.

Cotton made two in-person campaign swings in New Hampshire last summer and autumn, to stump on behalf of Trump and down ballot Republicans in the 2020 elections. Early this year he gave a virtual speech during the New Hampshire GOPs annual convention, which was held on-line amid the pandemic.

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On the trail: Why Mike Pence's speech mattered - Concord Monitor

With or without Donald J. Trump atop the party, the Republican strategy for the 2022 elections and beyond virtually assures race and racism will be central to political debate for years to come.

Why it matters: In an era when every topic seems to turn quickly to race, Republicans see this most divisive issue as either political necessity or an election-winner including as it relates to voting laws, critical race theory, big-city crime, immigration and political correctness.

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The big picture: These topics pit the mostly white GOP against the very diverse Democratic Party. It's unfolding in local school boards, national politics and on social media.

An Axios-Ipsos poll on race relations last month shows this starkly, Axios managing editor Margaret Talev writes:

There's a massive gulf between how Republicans and Democrats view race a 66-point gap on whether the U.S. must continue making changes to give Black Americans equal rights to white Americans.

There's a 48-point gap on whether the events of the past year led to a realization there's still a lot of racism in the U.S. and a 49-point gap on whether the protests were good for society.

Of all demographic groups, white people were the most resistant to structural reforms to address institutional racism a gap driven by Republican sentiment.

Chris Jackson of Ipsos Public Affairs says the GOP focus on race looks counterproductive at first, since a majority of Americans favor continued efforts to equalize the playing field for Black Americans.

But the pollster said a closer look reveals that the GOP's focus is more strategic around specific ideas that drive culture wars and could potentially move swing voters.

Here's where the GOP sees an opening: In our poll, just one in five white independents supports the "defund the police" movement.

Half of white independents say the media exaggerates stories of police brutality and racism.

Two in five white independents say social policies, including affirmative action, discriminate unfairly against white people.

Those issues prime this slice of the electorate for messaging that paints Democrats as extreme on issues around race.

Between the lines: Republicans have at times played on racial fears for decades. It became more explicit in the Trump era.

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Race central to Republican strategy for 2022 and beyond - Yahoo News