Britain | Bagehot

Britain’s Conservatives are losing as they governed. Meekly

UwU Conservativism, and the end of smol government 

Rishi Sunak doing the UwU emoji.
Illustration: Nate Kitch

Squint a little and the letters “UwU” resemble someone with large, cartoonish eyes and a serene smile. The cutesy emoticon is a staple of a certain corner of the internet, in which grown-ups speak to each other in an infantile tone (“I’m just a smol bean”) and adopt feigned helplessness.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The end of smol government”

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From the June 22nd 2024 edition

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