What happens when the green left and the conservative right find themselves as strange bedfellows in their attempt to rattle the halls of democracy? Is it just a means to a shared end, does it run deeper than just this moment, and where have we seen this merger before?

Much has been made recently of the association between the far-right as it infiltrates some of the more conservative responses to the current pandemic, and new-age ideas that revolve around lifestyle choices, spiritual thinking, and health and well-being. As Carl Cederström, author of Desperately Seeking Self-Improvement: A Year Inside the Optimization Movement was quoted in a recent Guardian article, ‘Wellness has very strong ties to the self-help movement … and what you find at the core of these movements is the idea that you should be able to help yourself.’ This same self-help mantra has come to underpin some of the responses of the alternative and sustainability movement to the current Pandemic moment, and it is a worrying sign.