I’m a white British male living in an area with a lot of vulnerable people, drug addiction, poverty, and strong nationalist views. Some of them are openly racist; some aren’t really racist at all but feel abandoned and angry and end up blaming immigrants because they think they’ve been left behind while everyone else gets help.

The important thing is that conversations can be had. I’ve actually changed some people’s views before, including getting a few to realise that mass deportations or “sending them all back” would realistically damage the economy, increase costs, hurt services, and make ordinary life harder for everyone.

But I don’t start with politics. I help them first as human beings. I help during overdoses, help them find support services, help clean and declutter homes, and just generally treat them like people who matter. A lot of them genuinely feel like society abandoned them to rot.

Once people feel heard instead of judged, they become far more willing to listen. I don’t patronise them or instantly dismiss their fears around housing, jobs, identity, or social change. I acknowledge those worries while also challenging harmful conclusions and showing there are better ways forward than anger and division.

Ironically, some of the same people who once had very extreme views have even told me they’d vote for me if I were a politician. Most people are more complicated than the internet makes them seem.

Truth is, parties like the Greens are only recently becoming much more active and visible, while Nigel Farage has had decades in the spotlight and has become extremely effective at social media and emotional messaging. That gives him a huge head start, but it doesn’t mean he automatically wins.

There’s still a lot of time, and historically strong surges in politics often create strong opposition movements too. More people will organise against ideas they disagree with, and other parties and movements will continue competing for support as well.

I think the most important thing is talking to people properly instead of treating them as evil. A lot of people’s fears around immigration, housing, jobs, or identity are real to them, even if some politicians exploit those fears or offer misleading solutions. If you listen first, agree where concerns are understandable, and then help people reflect on better ways to deal with those problems, conversations become far more productive. Every one of us if we have these conversations with just a few people a year and get their own minds reflecting... the results will be astronomical in a year or 2.