There were many reasons why John Ruskin hated Rococo. The overly decorated style was a bête noire for the great architectural critic because he thought it the supreme example of excess and by its excess it concealed its true meaning. We are in an era of British life which I can only think of as ‘late Rococo incompetence’. The excess of bad news, government ineptitude and baffling decisions made by the state is now so great that we are struck dumb, incapable of meaningful reaction.

The news cycle abounds with evidence of this tidal wave of depressing or destructive acts. The sheer number of hideous stories has desensitised us. In the past, rapes, foiled terror plots, government corruption scandals or days featuring unprecedented levels of illegal immigration would dominate news bulletins, front pages and social media. Now they’re just accepted as part of the wider tap-estry of horror.

The sheer number of hideous stories has desensitised us

The sheer number of hideous stories has desensitised us

These stories often come in insane twos and threes. Earlier this week, for example, in just 48 hours, we learnt that Abu Hamza’s wife was getting a £70,000 property makeover courtesy of British taxpayers, that we granted citizenship and asylum to a bona fide Hamas operative (who promptly showed his gratitude by plotting terror attacks on British soil) and that Shabana Mahmood, for all her tough talk, won’t actually do anything about migration other than increasing routes from countries whose citizens are more likely to commit harm to British........

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