Twitteretter

  I quote someone I was talking to, in Spain, referring to El Pais, one of the two main Spanish newspapers. El Pais is a mainstream publication, politically positioned on the centre left (they may not like my saying it, but more centre than left). My interlocutor finds the content of El Pais offensive, to the point of refusing to read it or even touch it. This visceral reaction might be understandable, even if exaggerated, if relating to an extreme, radical publication, but what does it tell us when even moderate, centrist papers elicit this kind of feeling? Carrollian polarisation rabbit holes are clearly going strong. The counterpart to El Pais is El Mundo, a moderate, by contemporary standards, centre right publication which I regularly read. I may not agree with many opinions in it, but their take and interpretation of the same news offer a contrasting viewpoint which helps inform my position. I approach it with a bias, but I approach it, and this is key to keeping the bias at ...

Let me start by nailing my colours to the mast. Democracy, all the way. The only system that can empower all citizens, protect minorities, enshrine civil liberties and avoid abuse of power. However, it has its problems. It is functional when leaders and parties place the interest of the citizenship above their own, govern for all and not just for their side. Otherwise, it swings wildly in cycles of power which are used by each faction to undo the progress made by the previous incumbents, fighting oppositions which oppose for opposition’s sake. The ideal for democracy to progress is for moderate groups to alternate power, keeping a somewhat general direction of travel, moderated towards their political leaning but built on their predecessors’ achievements. With today’s polarisation, this is not what we are seeing in UK, US, Spain and other countries and, when we do not, democracy becomes ineffective, gridlocked, and autocracies shine in comparison by their ability to get things done Len...