It’s the ‘great noticing’, as rightwingers accept that ‘Britain is broken’. But their fixes won’t make it any better | Nesrine Malik

After years spent dismissing progressive concerns, Tories want to highlight national decline, but to accept no responsibility

Girl Who Boys Can't Hear was a recurring character who featured on The Fast Show. She is a woman in the company of men who raises an intelligent solution to a problem, or makes an insightful observation, only to be ignored entirely. A few seconds after she has spoken, a man says something to the effect of Oh I've got it!", and repeats what she has said verbatim. The group of men immediately spring to agreement and admiration of his input. The woman then says: Sorry, can any of you actually hear me?"

The sketch always raised a laugh even though you knew what was coming. What elevated it every time wasn't the punchline, but the elaborate performance of the men - earnestly scratching their heads at the problem, studiously pretending to come up with an answer after the truth-telling woman has already given it, and then cheerfully bonding in the pleasure of one of them finding the solution. The past few weeks in news and political analysis have reminded me often of this performance. Suddenly, there is a lot of hearing of things that were previously said, just not by the right people. Britain, it appears, is broken.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist