Reasons to Be Fearful

Is the ongoing rise of the far right inevitable, or could a revived left still fight off the forces of division and hate?

I’m writing this at the Byline Festival at Keele University, where I’ve just taken part in a panel discussion about the future of politics and journalism.

I’ll be here throughout the weekend so if you receive this newsletter and are also at the festival, then do say hello.

One of the questions we were asked by a member of the audience this morning, but couldn’t quite answer was ‘are things about to get much worse?”

It was a really interesting question and it got me thinking.

Is the current state of our politics the bottom of the curve, or merely the start of a much more significant descent?

Conversely, are we all just being far too pessimistic and are the forces of progress actually much stronger than anyone is willing to admit?

Here’s where I think we really are and what we can expect next.