One experiences politics through direct encounters with the state, and since the first wave of austerity that experience has diverged enormously across income brackets. Benefits claimants can expect constantly hostile interactions, their disabilities relentlessly interrogated, their work hours pored over, their child-rearing examined, their benefits rescinded on specious or cruel grounds – all on an act-first-ask-questions-later principle.
As incomes increase, there is a sweet spot, particularly for those who are in fine health and have no children in state education. This demographic occupies a world where nobody can touch you but a traffic warden, or a guy from the council who disapproves of your rubbish disposal. The issue of traffic itself has now also entered into that world – whether it is 20mph limits, London’s ultra-low emission zone or the policy of low-traffic neighbourhooods – and has become a massive site of political activism.
