Boriswave, fighting-age men, cultural Marxism: how the far right is changing how we speak

Why are the online far right so successful in shaping our political language? With Dr Robert Topinka

At a press conference in September, Reform UK announced a seismic policy proposal - the end of indefinite leave to remain for immigrants. This change, which would drastically transform the UK immigration system, was justified by a supposed need to tackle the Boriswave".

At first glance, the Boriswave portmanteau might be understood as merely a description of the post-Brexit pattern of heightened migration but, as the reactionary digital politics expert Dr Robert Topinka explains to Helen Pidd, the term was generated by the extremely online far right" and originally used as a racial epithet. Topinka describes how it carries a right-leaning framing, whether its users are aware of it or not.