My mother was an excellent care worker. Why did she end up marching with the EDL?
Nicola Wilding’s mother was a Labour voter, who specialised in treating those with chronic memory disorders. Then she started supporting the far right. In a
Nicola Wilding’s mother was a Labour voter, who specialised in treating those with chronic memory disorders. Then she started supporting the far right. In a new family memoir, Wilding explores how this happened – and what it says about Britain today Nicola Wilding knew the letter was from her brother, Billy, as soon as she saw the line of tape on the envelope flap.
His mail had to pass inspection: he was three months into a prison sentence for attempted carjacking with an imitation gun. “Have you spoken to Mum lately?” he wrote. “She’s turned into a fascist, lols.” It was 2013 and their mother – a 59-year-old care worker, who for most of her life had voted Labour – had just attended her first march with the English Defence League.
Wilding read her brother’s news while at the kitchen table in her flat in Glasgow. “Was I worried?” she says. “I was bemused. I thought: ‘Oh, Mum’s just being daft. She’s having an adventure. She’ll get over it.’” But instead, “the anger stayed”, more marches followed – and Wilding started to wonder what personal and political forces had led her family to this place.
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