Britain’s cultural elite think those of us who voted for this Tory landslide are thick racists

We live submerged in a culture that is at odds with most people’s values, yet it does its best to convince us that we are “the few” and they – the comedians, the actors, the academics, the artists – are “the many.” They have turned us into strangers in our own land.

It’s comparable to a phenomenon observed in the USSR called hypernormalisation. The Soviet system was broken but the state wouldn’t admit it, and the ordinary people, because they weren’t even allowed to think of an alternative, became joint actors in a theatre of the absurd in which communism was great and everyone was doing well.

Britain in 2019 is a liberal fantasyland in which soaps, films, comedies and cartoons tell us everyone is woke, hates Brexit and worships the NHS like a pagan god, except the Tories who are evil and therefore definitely going to lose. Because we’re all a bit scared of standing out, we pretend this is normal. The difference between the UK and the USSR, however, is that occasionally we go into the privacy of a democratic voting booth, where we can say what we really think.

The result – the highest Tory share since 1979 – is a shock to the culture makers because they literally don’t know anyone who doesn’t agree with them, and when something happens you can’t compute, you look for excuses beyond yourself. The election was rigged. The press was biased. Or the voters are simply thick racists. As Hugh Grant said when the exit poll was released: “There goes the neighbourhood.” Actually, I doubt many of us could afford to live on Mr Grant’s street.

Doesn’t this create a serious crisis of legitimacy in British culture? How can our media and art be called representative when it doesn’t reflect the views or tastes of the 52 per cent who voted for Brexit? Liberal culture places tremendous emphasis upon diversity, as well it should because art must never be a monolith and we want to encounter perspectives other than our own. But no sane definition of diversity excludes representation of the majority to the point that many of us don’t tune into certain shows anymore because they feel made for someone else – and not very well.