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14 June 2023

The humiliation of the populists

Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon have both been undone by democracy.

By Andrew Marr

Political writing has a default mood. A vaporous pessimism, with windily non-specific warnings about the future is, I find, the safest tack. Folks rarely get fired for being too bleak because modern political societies have a constant need for adjustment and warning. In our fallen democratic condition, the grief of recent failure can be intense.

Bland Cassandras are à la mode. But after recent events we must admit the unthinkable: our local systems are working. Parliamentary democracy is redeeming itself.

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