What a brutally hard year it has been. Territorial wars have gone global, inequality grows, big money owns democracy, international law is undermined, culture conflicts are ignited and the far right marches again in the West. Britain seems at the very edge of chaos and social breakdown.

And bad news keeps on coming. On Tuesday, the Institute for Public Policy Research published a new poll. One in three Brits surveyed believe only those born in these isles can be British. And a significant number say only white people have that right. I felt a familiar kick in my stomach, and cold fear.

Not wanting to embolden racists, I stepped back from the vortex of pessimism. And I realised that though the media is obsessed with the bad, mad and dangerous – and I am part of that –........

© iNews