Shuffling democracyAnd the disintermediation of our politics

–Shakespeare, Henry IV Part One

“The times are wild: contention like a horse

Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose

And bears down all before him.”

Losing the compass?• In 2010 the UK electorate went off piste

• Tory party gained in places they hadn't expected

• Labour survived but *still* isn't sure why

• Led to UK's first formal post war Coalition

• Murdoch vacillated (so 'The Sun' didn't win)

Old bottles and new wine?

• Most political arguments are constitutional

• SNP are building a popular movement

• Ditto UKIP with the Tory party's nationalist identity

• Ireland no longer has a natural party of government

• Northern Ireland admin is leaking authority/agency

Is politics shrinking?• The rise of Euroscepticism is broad

• Exaggerating benefits of negative actions

• Channeling distress at loss of democratic agency

• Resort to populism a response to over-complication

• Shreds mandate of establishment for clear action

Policy be damned..• Loss of traditional media as a "reliable

witness"

• Polls cannot cope with "cognitive polyphasia"

• They tell us what we don't like, not what we want

• Elites fearful of making themselves accountable

• Losing ability to tell resonant stories of positive action.

–Ben Okri

““A people are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves. Sick

storytellers can make nations sick. Stories can conquer fear, and make the heart

larger.”