There are some, in Garforth, who have started referring to the recent upswell of rancour and petty mud-slinging as the town’s own miniature version of Brexit, such is the division it has seeded. Then there are others who believe you have to reach even further into the past to find an event worthy of comparison.
Take councillor Mark Dobson, now in his 60s. To Dobson, the new and harshly-drawn battle-lines in his community recall a distant era, one the town’s younger residents will only have heard of in stories passed down by their elders. “I think older people such as myself would remember the dark days of the 1984/85 Miner’s Strike,” he says, before trailing off.
Whatever your analogy of choice, most will be able to agree that it’s all gotten a bit out of hand in Garforth of late. In the past few months neighbours have turned on each other, amateur sleuths have compiled dossiers spying on barely-known local politicians and residents have created bizarre AI to accuse their fellow Garforthians of dark conspiracies.
So what exactly is it that has caused all this unpleasantness? Who are the metaphorical strikers — and who are the scabs?
Eyup readers - it's Brad, one of two writers at The Exchange.
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