There’s a certain thrill in saying, ‘I told you so.’ We all relish the moment when our warnings are vindicated, when the world finally catches up with our foresight. But this time, I genuinely take no pleasure in it. I said Britain would begin to crack, and now it is. 

I’m exhausted by those who, years later, grudgingly admit that I was right. I’d much rather be mocked for overreacting, my words dismissed with a snarky ‘this aged well’. At least then, the worst wouldn’t have come to pass.

The recent Unite the Kingdom demonstration, led by Tommy Robinson, brought this into sharp focus. Figures like Laurence Fox and Katie Hopkins, who you might consider to be gobshites, addressed the huge crowd. Yet, despite the decades of provocation fuelling it, the march was remarkably peaceful, even hopeful. Protests aren’t my scene, but I know many perfectly reasonable people who attended, and their presence reflects a growing desperation; we are now way past the point of being picky about who we’re seen with. When the so-called Good People have stanned for Hamas, their sanctimonious finger-waggings about your unsavoury associations lose their sting.

What did politicians expect? If you don’t like Robinson, Fox or........

© The Spectator