I grew up near there. You would not believe how horrific some of the people in that area are. One of the most shocking moments I ever experienced was people I'd known since childhood as very kind and decent going full mask-off racist and bigot during the last 10-15 years
Yeah. The election of Trump certainly emboldened a lot of them, but even before that.
One of the things that I keep thinking back to is how often 'irony' was used as a cover for people saying the worst sort of thing.
I grew up in Tendring, near Clacton, and everyone there was lovely kind and not at all racist or reactionary.
Of course, I left when I was 11 so it's entirely possible I only saw a very small subset of people who later went on to blame immigrants for their government's failures...
I spent a couple of years during the pandemic living in Clacton.
The town itself was surprisingly welcoming and diverse (for Essex), but it has the misfortune of being in a constituency with Walton and Frinton - which are both full of ancient busy-bodies.
