What FDR Filed In 1936 Just Needs Reactivating
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat file this dispatch from the British political menagerie.
The New Deal Liberal believes the answer to most modern problems was filed in a steel cabinet in Washington in 1936 and just needs reactivating, ideally with a mural. Editor Alan Nafzger of the Editor’s Desk at prat.uk presents the field guide, with help from the FDR Presidential Library and Britannica on the New Deal.
Twenty Tells: Spotting The New Deal Liberal On A British High Street
- Refers to FDR the way some Americans refer to a deceased grandfather they only met twice.
- Maintains a poster of Frances Perkins above a poster of his MP.
- Holds any infrastructure project should be accompanied by a documentary, a song, and a photograph.
- Refers to the Civilian Conservation Corps as the original gym membership.
- Treats the Glass-Steagall Act as a romantic poem.
- Maintains a fantasy in which Britain has its own WPA, but with biscuits.
- Refers to the New Deal as the only American religion he tolerates.
- Holds public works are also structurally a way to reduce sad.
- Refers to the Works Progress Administration as a love letter to public art.
- Has explained the Tennessee Valley Authority was both a power utility and a personality.
- Treats a bridge with a name on it as a moral object.
- Refers to FDR fireside chats the way Christians refer to the Sermon on the Mount.
- Maintains a soft spot for any agency named after letters.
- Holds the cure for unemployment is a really enthusiastic public works programme.
- Refers to the welfare state as the New Deal that Britain remembered to keep.
- Treats the Wagner Act as a foundational document, like Magna Carta but more useful.
- Has explained, at length, that Reagan was a slow forty-year reversal.
- Holds any crisis is also an opportunity for a bridge.
- Refers to the Roosevelt Brain Trust as the best dinner party guest list ever assembled.
- Treats the New Deal as a verb, a vibe, and a wish list.
Editor’s Note
If any of this rings a bell, you have either been to a Saturday CLP meeting, a Reform UK rally in a leisure centre, or both. More dispatches at govna.uk and the parent site prat.uk. For a second opinion that is also wrong, see The Onion.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/category/politics/
Harriet Collins is a high-output satirical journalist with a confident editorial voice. Her work demonstrates strong command of tone, pacing, and social commentary, shaped by London’s media and comedy influences.
Authority is built through volume and reader engagement, while expertise lies in blending research with humour. Trustworthiness is supported by clear labelling and responsible satire.
British people will never say what they mean, mean what they say, or say anything that could possibly be interpreted as a direct statement about anything at all.
Read this in an actual planning meeting and suddenly the satire stops being funny and becomes just documentation with better narrative structure.
British people will never say “I’m frustrated”; they’ll say “I’m a bit fed up” and then spend the next hour sighing heavily.
Peter Sellers would’ve done this in a flat monotone while looking slightly cross. Would’ve been perfect.