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The heart of the matter: passion, politics and the EU referendum

Both Leave and Remain have appealed to voters’ guts to the extent that reason itself has become suspicious. Emotions will rule the day on 23 June, but at what cost?

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John Stillwell/Press Association. All rights reserved.

Politics today is suffused with emotion.

There is anger mixing with angst in the German Wutbürger, the Spanish indignados, and the French labour law protestors. There’s Donald Trump riding on a wave of demagoguery, hurling disgust at Mexicans, hatred at Muslims and disdain at women. There’s fear vying with grief and defiance in Orlando, Paris, or Brussels.