A strange paradox seems to have emerged in recent times. The more monumental the challenges our country faces, the sillier our national politics has become. While our productivity flatlines, housing crisis deepens and social care crisis continues, recent election campaign flashpoints have involved tombstones, battle buses and ‘dementia tax’ U-turns.

The whole process of election campaign knockabouts, with mani-festos drawn up by a small clique and presented as ‘what we will do for you,’ seems more fitting of a bygone age of hierarchy. As deference has declined, we are left with a dominant tone of adversarial yah-boo politics, and the mud seems to stick to everyone – the winner is simply the last one standing. Given an opportunity, such as during the EU Referendum, many people used it to deliver a blow to a system and an establishment that doesn’t work for them.