Photo via Skyebrows on Youtube (top) INGSOC from 1914 via Theodulus Odovacar on Fandom (bottom)
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Back in January there was a trend first reported on by Telegraph and the Hungarian Conservative both of which are right leading publications of a “purple-haired goth girl” who is depicted as a nationalist extremist from a government sponsored videogame called Pathways. The meme spread quickly on various social media sites such as X and gained international coverage by publications such as The Guardian, EuroNews, and CNN. The game was initially made by an organization called Shout Out UK, a group which intended to be a tool used by schools to prevent extremism and radicalism. The game was then also reviewed by many streamers such as Asmongold which also brought many members of the gaming community to also interact with the meme further leading to the virality of the meme.
Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), said:
“We have seen the meme having a remarkable spread and proliferating among the far right and beyond, but what’s also been of note is how it is now international. In a way it gets to the heart of what we might term the ‘dissident’ far-right—individuals who position themselves outside of the mainstream political scene—whether that’s ‘shitposters’ who are just into provoking, others who are in twee memes. A whole ecosystem has embraced it. Clearly, the sexualised imagery is also key to this. The target audience is almost exclusively young men.”
Such messages proliferated in such memes include racist, islamophobic, anti-immigrant, along with other various far-right messaging. One prominent factor contributing to such a sentiment is the small-boat crisis and illegal immigration which has seen over 100 thousand illegal immigrants over the past few years. Another prominent factor included is so called Grooming Gangs being an area of tension especially after the Casey Audit in 2025.
The Casey audit found:
“We need more maturity and honesty in debate about the ethnicity of perpetrators of group-based child sexual exploitation. Assertions that the majority of child sexual abuse offenders are White, even if true, are at best misleading. In a population with over 80% of people of White ethnicity, it should always be a significant issue when people from a White background are not in the majority of victims or perpetrators of crime. It should also be a significant issue when any community or social group appears disproportionately over-represented as victims or perpetrators of crime. In such cases, the underlying factors that have contributed to that situation deserve investigation.”
This report identified many irregularities in the reporting and prosecution of child sexual assault cases. With Starmer opening a national inquiry into child sexual assault in mid-2025 after previously accusing those calling for a national inquiry of “jumping on a far right bandwagon.”
British Protesters holding a banner after Elon Musk brought renewed attention to child sexual abuse scandals in Great Britain, Photo via Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
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After the Amelia meme went viral Matteo Bergamini, the founder and CEO of Shout Out UK stated “What we’re seeing is the monetisation of hate…We’ve seen Telegram groups all messaging each other in Chinese about the meme coin and talking about how to artificially inflate its value, so a lot of money is being made.”
Though there are other such memes of Amelia which take a more politically neutral stance proliferated on social media such as depicting Amelia as the Queen, an enjoyer of fish and chips, pubs, along with other patriotic British symbolism such as the Union Jack. Here depicted more in discontentment of the current British government one such image depicts Amelia smoking a cigarette and using it to burn an image of Keir Starmer. Along with criticism of an overarching British Government
Such discontentment with the British government has been ongoing since the election of Keir Starmer and the labor party. With the far-right Reform UK led by Nigel Farage becoming increasingly popular in the polls although an election is far away such rise has led to many examining the party as it appears to have risen as a party of the far-right but also those discontent with the Labour and Conservative parties.
Discontent with the current administration had been on multiple fronts. Spanning back to Boris Johnson who resigned after the “partygate” scandal, Liz Truss’s 6-week tenure, and Rushi Sunak’s mishandling of the Brexit deal, dissatisfaction with long waits for NHS, cost of living increases, and mass immigration concerns. Which led to a loss in the 2024 general election which saw Labour gain a majority in government electing Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. Whose own premiership has been in controversy after appointing Peter Mandelson as U.K ambassador to the U.K who has since resigned and been arrested over tied to Jeffery Epstein. But Starmer was already marred with controversy over failures to deal with many issues of the previous administration as well as various U-turns such as cutting welfare and attempting to implement mandatory IDs. Though Starmer has backed away from implementing mandatory IDs. Which were controversial, digitizing many citizen’s personal information and increasing government surveillance. Though both Labour and Conservative parties have been unable to handle governing over the past years leading to record low support with increasing numbers looking to third parties.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, was found to have one of the highest satisfaction ratings of current party leaders in the UK although he has the second highest disapproval rating behind Kier Starmer. Although polls have been slipping for Reform as concern over readiness to lead the government mounts. The large reasons for support for reform in the UK were found to be discontent with the 2 major parties, policies on immigration, being different, and general values. Although hypothetical a joint reform UK and conservative government has been an idea that has floated though support for such a coalition remains sparse. Though current polling shows the possibility of a reform plurality. Although controversial if polls are maintained until the next general election. Reform’s chance of becoming a major party is a distinct possibility but depends heavily on the effectiveness of local councilors which the party gained in the 2025 local elections. But local elections expected this year have been in controversy after attempts to delay local elections by the current government with the majority of districts that were set to be postponed controlled by labor. The decision to not postpone elections was welcomed by Reform, Conservatives, the Greens, and the Liberal Democrats after legal challenges. Local elections could lead to a major shake up given current party polling.
Nigel Farage of Reform UK giving a speech, Photo via Lia Toby/Getty Images
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The Guardian finds that there are 5 major groups that support Reform UK: the Hardline conservatives (socially conservative traditionalists), squeezed stewards (middle class), the working right (older working class), the reluctant reforms (discontent with current leading parties), and the contrarian youth (those distrustful of established institutions). Who cited cost of living, immigration, and NHS to be the leading concerns.
Although it is also important to note grievances that many British citizens have with the current government which has transcended multiple administrations such as increasing curvatures on free speech. Starting with the passage of the Online Safety Act which increased the government’s ability to monitor free speech. There were an estimated 12,000 last year for offensive online posts. On both the left and the right with many being arrested for various reasons such as opposing abortion, pro-palastine protests, and criticisms of harsh sentencing for certain posts. These topics would in the U.S. be covered by the First Amendment regardless if one agrees with such sentiments or not but Britain has increasingly policed and limited such speech. Britain has also increased the use of AI recognition in an attempt to combat crime but it has been criticized for misidentifications and being intrusive on people’s rights. Such increased government surveillance programs will likely be increasingly challenged and with Labour’s already precarious position could lead to a spill over effect in elections.
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This article was edited by Abigail D’Angelo.
Catherine Topps 
Sarah Olivia Sullivan 
Sahir Sadat