Tom Slater writes in Spiked about the "King of the braindead left"

Tom Slater, editor of Spiked magazine, has published a piece in the magazine about the Leader of the Green party which has probably given the magazine's lawyers palpitations.

It starts with a title which describes the charismatic leader of the party now challenging Labour on the left as "Zack Polanski: king of the braindead left,"

and gets less polite from there.

Here are a few extracts:

"Polanski, 43, is very much a millennial – in the worst possible sense of the word. He represents all that has made those of us born between 1981 and 1996 ashamed of our generation.

There’s the prudish authoritarianism, the identity politics, the self-righteous preening – the grimly defining features of a cohort who spent their university years trying to get redtops banned from the campus Co-op before taking their babyish offence-taking into the workplace.

He recently appeared on stage with thirtysomething hipster-rap duo Rizzle Kicks, where Polanski proceeded to chant a number of things ‘we are not down with’ to a whooping crowd, including ‘racism’ and ‘fascism’, as if these things were wildly popular among other, less-enlightened sections of society.

This is what politics now is to middle-class millennial graduates – a never-ending chorus of ‘Look at me, I’m a hero! And everyone else is scum!’"

"Essentially, he’s a party leader who got into politics all of five minutes ago, and it shows. He was treated to the traditional softsoap interviews after he was elected Green leader in September, winning by a landslide. But he’s already begun to come unstuck. 

Polanski made an arse of himself on Question Time recently, when he said we need immigration because ‘I don’t particularly want to wipe someone’s bum’ – nodding to the fact that the woefully undervalued care sector is reliant on migration because it pays so poorly.

What would Zack and his mates do without this imported serf class to tend to their ailing relatives for a pittance? Apparently, exploiting cheap labour is left-wing now.

Then, what all involved presumed would be a cordial, circle-jerk of an appearance on The Rest Is Politics podcast turned into a humiliation, as Polanski couldn’t tell a bemused Rory Stewart the difference between the debt and the deficit, or how much we’re paying in debt interest.

He also named a series of non-economists among his favourite economists. 

According to Stewart, Polanski complained the exchange was ‘unfair’ after the mics were turned off, insisting he was just an actor and he would have boned up on the numbers had he been warned in advance. A millennial whinge if ever there was one."

"He is at once utterly trivial, a Hallmark-card sloganeer posing as a serious politician, and yet he is indulging some of the most reactionary ideas – and people – imaginable. He is the walking, talking, grinning embodiment of the modern left’s inoperable brain rot. Let’s make 2026 the year we wipe the smiles off those insufferably smug faces."

You can read the whole thing here.