In this time of conflict, I recall my late mother’s Christian wisdom and kindness

Although we often disagreed about politics, she taught me that in this age of frenzy it’s safer to be slow to denounce.

Photo by Julian Ward / Millennium Images, UK

Never waste a lull. The New Year pause in parliamentary politics gives everyone, even doddery old hacks, a chance to look around afresh. We know that the very idea of freshness – a clean break, with that new number, 23 – is a nonsense. In nature, yes, there is renewal. Already tiny green shards are breaking the soil. But in politics everything blurs, merges, rolls over. Abjuring January alcohol, we stagger on dimly under the burden of earlier follies.

And yet the illusion of a clean break helps. That sense that “things could be different” is the biggest gift of the winter holiday. And so, in a mood of guarded optimism, here are some thoughts about a better politics in the year ahead.