Introduction: tightening our belts -- Austerity and the appeal of the past -- Authoritarian populism, traditionalism and austerity -- The mediatisation of austerity and the case of benefits street -- Immigration, austerity and the welfare state -- Austere creativity, community and impasses around the welfare state -- Trade union activism after the 2010 student protests -- Spaces of solidarity -- Conclusion: towards a politics of interdependency and care -- Conclusion: from austerity to brexit and trump, and the politics of the "ordinary" -- Right populism and "ordinary people" -- Can the public mood be shifted?.