You may wonder about life in Britain since the EU referendum. For a start, how come we have a new prime minister without a single vote being cast in the country, or even by the Conservative party membership? And how is it that one of the first acts of that prime minister was to shut the climate change department, just as Atlantic ice levels – a key measurement of global warming – hit a record low? You may also wonder why Britain is on course to leave the European Union, why it was possible for so many lies and half-truths to dominate the campaign; or why there’s no influential voice at the centre of British politics to represent the millions who wanted to remain, or indeed the under 35s who voted by a clear majority against Brexit. Or why there is no influential voice to represent the people who voted leave. You may wonder – or even despair – at the loss of acceptance and fair-mindedness in our country, at the upsurge of racism and hate crimes, and the sharp divisions between North and South and between England and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Indeed, you may wonder what has become of us and of our democracy.
