Is conversation and political discourse now about which side you are on and whether you are winning? Has it always been this way?

Yesterday, my twitter feed epitomised this. The EU were wrong to threaten to invoke article 16, and Brexit is also having awful consequences for many businesses and people. Both things can be true.

The facts don’t seem to matter anymore, it is more about point scoring. This has come to the point where hypocrisy and double standards are happening all of the time so one’s stance can be propped up whilst another is knocked down. The middle ground has seemingly disappeared whilst feelings lead us to following our leaders like it’s a cult.

Is this really the road we want to continue going down?

I grow ever weary of ignorance being satiated, facts being ignored, truth being bent and the whole notion that you are in the mix to win. This is not a sport, and no one will win in this manner. It only leads to hatred and violence.

There needs to be serious reflection on how we move forward, from the systems we use to connect and consume information to the way in which we behave online and the standards that must be upheld. This is one of the biggest challenges of modern times and needs to be embraced.

Expertise, nuance, attention to the details and analytical and critical thinking all needs to become fashionable again. The notion that many of will be wrong and can change our minds needs to be acceptable again and is a sign of weakness, not strength.

We have so much more in common than we think we do.