Dr. Shana Cohen:

One of the things we have consistently found in our research is that the decline of a town's centre has a political impact. It is about the lack of spaces for people to meet. That issue has come up across the generations. It is not older people, but also younger people. They feel like they want to be in a place that is aesthetically pleasing, where they can go out and enjoy themselves and feel good about living there. It is not just the case in working-class communities, but it is particularly the case in those areas. It is about being able to go to shops, having trees in an area and the whole area looking pretty. That may seem kind of simplistic, but the political impact of something like that would be quite strong. We need to have an alternative mode of communication besides WhatsApp groups, Instagram or TikTok. We have found that face-to-face interaction is the strongest alternative. People need to be with people they trust, talk to them and know they will be given a straight answer. This is the most effective counter to whatever information people are getting on social media.