Are we facing a crisis of civic discourse and, indeed, of civility? As we move towards the later stages of the Brexit process, a General Election and, who knows, possible second referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence, we’re likely to see this question posed with increasing urgency.

There’s a sense that the way in which we talk about politics is increasingly personalised, polarised and abusive. Anecdotally we hear of councillors receiving far higher levels of abuse than in the past. We’ve all seen the levels of abuse directed at public, and not so public, figures on social media.