Journalist, writer, columnist for @spikedonline Author of the book 'Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche For Our Times' (2017)
Deal, Kent
Joined June 2009
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My essay on the late Jürgen Habermas in the current issue of 'Philosophy Now' magazine 🔽
#Habermas imagined a society where ideas competed through "the non-coercive force of the better argument." An ideal worth striving for, or an impossible dream? @patrickxwest on one of the world's most influential contemporary philosophers: philosophynow.org/issues/174…
spiked-online.com/2026/10/26… To be fair, immigration, not least from Spanish-speaking South America, has always been a motivating force here, but this is good explaining the latest developments and dynamics
My latest for the Spectator 👇
Prime Ministers in the modern era have invariably tried to prove that they are men of the people. It's one reason why the likes of Tony Blair, Liz Truss and now Andy Burnham have used the familiar form of their Christian name in the way Harry Macmillan or Dave Lloyd George never did.
But what marks out Andy Burnham as novel is that he doesn’t merely flaunt his common touch as part of a broader, cynical strategy to garner electoral support. His earthly demeanour – albeit laboured – actually seems to convey authenticity. He really does want to be liked.
When Tony Blair appeared on popular television shows such as Des O'Connor Tonight, where his accent opportunely shifted to a cringeworthy glottal-stopping Estuary English, most of us just groaned, so accustomed had we become to the wily ways of this superficial man, a phoney whose time in power is remembered today for introducing 'spin' to the political lexicon.
✍️ Patrick West
Article | spectator.com/article/andy-b… | @patrickxwest
My latest for the Spectator: Andy Burnham is an amiable character who wants to be liked, but a leader must be firm and decisive, not a timid and vacillating people-pleaser spectator.com/article/andy-b…
Interesting to read in 'The English People' (1947) Orwell complaining about sentences getting shorter, out of widespread slovenliness, and his observation about the inexorable rise of the demotic subjunctive (one of his less memorable predictions)
I was sorely tempted to buy this intriguing book, which really lays bare how grammatically similar these two languages are, from Librairie La Page in South Kensington today, but thought it too much of an indulgence
Patrick West retweeted
This is all true. The speed and scale of the change are seismic and unprecedented. And it is not leading to the multicultural utopia that elitist liberal-progressive voices predicted. On the contrary, it is leading to a nation increasingly divided along ethnic, religious and cultural lines. We have to manage that rupture as best we can - and by always retaining our basic humanity. But pretending it isn’t happening serves no-one.
It’s not ‘racist’ to notice that England is undergoing convulsive demographic change. There is no historical precedent for the levels of migration that have been imposed on us – and against our will. The English are disappearing, says Patrick West
buff.ly/c2JpUpW
My latest for spiked 👇
It’s not ‘racist’ to notice that England is undergoing convulsive demographic change. There is no historical precedent for the levels of migration that have been imposed on us – and against our will. The English are disappearing, says Patrick West
buff.ly/c2JpUpW
I'm looking forward to this - and the launch party for it
You can pre-order - it comes out Nov 12.
I am speaking to those of us who want an explanation for what is going wrong and know that it isn’t as simple as ‘third worlders’ or ‘racism’.
Life is always more complex.
My book explains that complexity.
amzn.eu/d/0gtCcDsy
spiked-online.com/2026/10/23… My latest @spikedonline column: how the English people feel their country is vanishing before their eyes; the pathologisation of everyday life is behind the mental health crisis; and that other 'North London-on-sea' in East Sussex
Patrick West retweeted
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Home Office counter-terrorism documents link “nostalgia for traditionalism” and fears over immigration, liberalism and multiculturalism to “Christian extremism”.
Officials propose working with churches to promote “theological resilience” against the use of Christian teachings to justify hatred or violence.
I obtained dozens of pages from RICU’s report on “Christian extremism”. Among the findings:
• Images of happy families in wartime, peaceful countryside and classical statues are described as a “hook” towards an extremist worldview.
• Tommy Robinson’s rallies and a Christmas carol concert come under scrutiny, alongside Christian fitness groups.
• “Bob from Speakers’ Corner” features, despite RICU identifying no extremist content from him.
Yet the report acknowledges that the threat of violence from Christian extremists remains “low”.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, UK legal counsel for ADF, says the report “suggests an institutional anti-Christian bias has taken hold in the Home Office”.
stevenedginton.substack.com/…
Patrick West retweeted
Jeez, they've now started counting the coffins. How low will these people go?
Should Britain be in permanent thrall to the dead? Since 2016 1.6 m more Leave voters have died than Remain. There is now a Rejoin majority. kellnerp.substack.com/p/brit…
Basically the list of candidates for my second tumbrel. The first will be reserved for politicians
OPEN LETTER: Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist. Her books must be available to the public. Their withdrawal from sale, on the basis of ill-conceived and draconian anti terror legislation, is an affront to basic principles of free speech and expression so long taken for granted in this country. We categorically reject censorship - whether direct or indirect - and urge the government to change course, amending the legislation which has led us to this point of repressive absurdity.
Patrick West retweeted
Shocker
Gary Lineker has backed Sally Rooney after her books were pulled from sale in Britain because of her support for Palestine Action.
🔗:telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
My latest for the Spectator 👇
Given that the French-speaking world gave us the science of semiotics, they would be the first to recognise that the Palestine flag, as it is being hoisted and brandished across the French republic at the moment, has come to signify something far more than the aspirant state of Palestine.
You don't have to be Ferdinand de Saussure to appreciate that this signifier has become unmoored from its original meaning.
You don't have to be Roland Barthes to see that this emblem has now assumed a wholly mutated significance: in short, it has become an all-encompassing symbol to denote hatred of the West and of European civilisation.
✍️ Patrick West
Article | spectator.com/article/the-pa… | @patrickxwest
spectator.com/article/the-pa… My latest for the Spectator: how a symbol which purports to represent an aspirant state has become an all-encompassing emblem of rancour and resentment
