Thousands turn out for paddle out protests over ‘sewage scandal’

Thousands of people voiced their anger of the spilling sewage into UK waters at dozens of “paddle out” protests held across the country.

At more than 40 beaches, rivers and lakes across the UK, people armed with boards and placards take to the water to demand urgent reform of the water industry in events organised by the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage.

It comes as new Opinium polling suggested that fewer than one in five people believe they will able to swim safely at their local bathing spot by 2030 without risking their health as a result of sewage pollution. 

And the survey of 2,000 people found just 21 per cent of respondents trusted the government to ensure water suppliers reduce sewage spills, with more than half a million discharges into our seas, lakes and rivers in 2024.

Data released by the Environment Agency in March showed water companies released a record amount of raw sewage into England’s rivers and seas last year. The Independent Water Commission is currently reviewing its evidence before making recommendations to government on reforming the water industry.

Stuart Davies, an organiser of the Brighton protest, said: “We are paddling out because we seem to be in the same place each year. We see record levels of sewage pollution in our blue spaces, especially here on the south coast.

“Many a time, I have been personally affected. I can’t go sea swimming. I can’t go surfing. I also volunteer for the Wave Project which provides surf therapy for young people. That’s been cancelled a few times, and we couldn’t go in the water. It makes me extremely angry.

“We are paddling out in protest of the scandal and to call for total reform of the water industry.”

The Independent recently donated £20,000 to Surfers Against Sewage to help support the group’s work, as new figures revealed the number of beauty spots deemed unfit for swimming because of sewage had doubled in a year.

Of England’s 451 protected bathing spots, 37 are now rated as poor – the lowest category – because they contain unsafe levels of potentially deadly bacteria, including E coli and intestinal enterococci, due to sewage spills.

Primary school evacuated after student brings in grenade for class

A primary school in Derbyshire has had to be evacuated after a student brought a grenade in for a Second World War show and tell assembly, it has been reported.

Students and staff at Osmaston CofE Primary Care School, in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, were evacuated on Friday, and bomb disposal experts were called in.

Head teacher Jeanette Hart told the BBC said she was unsure if the device was live, so she took it from the boy and slowly placed it behind a “substantial” tree in the car park as the school was cleared and emergency services were called.

“It was quite an eventful assembly,” said Mrs Hart. “It was going fine and there was a boy who brought an old bullet case in, which I knew about, but then his friend produced a hand grenade from his pocket. That, I was not expecting.”

Bomb disposal experts later established that the grenade was safe.

According to the report, the student had brought in the grenade, which was a family heirloom, without telling his parents.

Mrs Hart said, “It looked old and I thought it might be safe, but I didn’t want to take the risk.”

“I ended the assembly, took it off him and slowly carried it outside and put it behind a far tree in the car park. I wasn’t 100 per cent happy carrying it, to be honest.”

Police and army bomb disposal experts were called to the scene, and the children and staff moved to safety.

Derbyshire Police said army explosives experts determined the grenade was safe using X-ray equipment.

Officers praised the school staff for their quick thinking.

A spokesperson for the Matlock, Cromford, Wirksworth and Darley Dale Police Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “We even got to see those [X-ray] images and [were] told a detailed analysis of how there was nothing that would set the grenade off.

“Just a word of guidance for parents and guardians – double check what your kids are taking to show-and-tell, especially when they are family heirlooms.”

Hamilton ‘devastated’ after Ferrari qualifying failure at Imola GP

Lewis Hamilton was “devastated” after suffering another blow in his first season at Ferrari during a captivating qualifying session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday.

Hamilton, who admitted this week he wasn’t expecting his first season at Ferrari to be so “tough”, and teammate Charles Leclerc missed the opportunity to fight for pole in Imola, with both drivers knocked out of contention in Q2.

The pair will start alongside each other on the grid for Sunday’s race, with Leclerc a place ahead in 11th and Hamilton in 12th.

Oscar Piastri claimed pole position for McLaren, with Max Verstappen in second and Hamilton’s former teammate George Russell in third for Mercedes. Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris will start a disappointing fourth on the grid.

“Tough one, tough one,” said Hamilton, who has only managed one top-five finish in the first six races of the season and currently lies 90 points behind championship leader Piastri.

“Ultimately, I feel super gutted, devastated, that we weren’t able to get through. I really feel we’ve made many positive steps over the weekend.

“When we put the new tyres on, we didn’t have any more grip, couldn’t go any faster, everyone else managed to switch on the tyres. To be in front of the Italian fans, first time for Ferrari, to not manage to get to Q3 is bittersweet.”

Asked about his prospects for Sunday’s race, Hamilton replied: “It’s all big ifs, it’s a very difficult track to overtake at.

“We’ll have to battle hard to figure a way to progress forward – just getting into the top 10 and further into the top 10 will be tough.”

Hometown hero Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes 18-year-old rookie, also endured an afternoon to forget as he could only manage P13.

Qualifying on Saturday, the first in Europe this season, started in dramatic circumstances as Yuki Tsunoda – in just his fourth race for Red Bull – suffered a huge crash.

Losing control of his car at the Villeneuve chicane, Tsunoda spun violently into the gravel before his car flipped heavily into the catch fencing surrounding the racetrack.

Fortunately, Tsunoda walked away from the incident but was taken to the on-site medical centre.

A matter of minutes later, Alpine debutant Franco Colapinto spun at Tamburello corner, hitting the tyre barrier. The 21-year-old, brought in to replace Jack Doohan by de facto Alpine boss Flavio Briatore, quickly apologised but stated he was OK.

The drama did not stop there, with the shock double Ferrari elimination following in Q2 to the dismay of the thousands of red-clad fans in the grandstands.

Afterwards, Leclerc was dejected and insisted he is unable to perform “miracles” as the Scuderia target a strong race on Sunday.

“You can always do a bit more with a lap, but we are just nowhere at the moment,” Leclerc said. “There’s not enough performance in the car, I keep repeating myself. We need to be better.

“Very hard [for the race], I can fight as much as I want but I cannot do miracles. This is what there is in the car, I’m trying to extract the maximum out of it.”

The fight for pole position was intriguing, with Verstappen initially in the driving seat before Piastri snatched top spot with his final run by 0.034 seconds.

Russell, opting for a medium tyre, came home third with Norris’s title hopes receiving a further blow. He will start in P4.

The race on Sunday is at 2pm (BST).

Hundreds of MPs and peers call for Starmer to ban Iranian army

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls from hundreds of MPs and peers to ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) amid a deteriorating human rights picture in the UK and after three Iranian men were charged with spying in London.

Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock is among those urging the prime minister to outlaw the IRGC, warning “the human rights crisis in Iran continues to worsen”.

It came as three Iranian men living in London were charged under the National Security Act, accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.

More than 550 MPs and peers, also including former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and ex-home secretary Suella Braverman, signed a letter criticising Iran’s “hijab and chastity law”.

They said it “mandatory hijab, suppressing women who lead the protest and resistance movement to prevent future uprisings”.

“Appeasing this faltering regime betrays democratic values, emboldens its repressive policies, and undermines global security as Tehran continues its nuclear ambitions and terrorism,” the letter said.

It added: “Given the regime’s complete blockade of all avenues for political activity, the international community must recognise the Iranian people’s right to regime change.

“The IRGC should be designated as a terrorist organisation,” the letter said.

The UK has previously resisted calls to ban the IRGC over fears it could sever the country’s diplomatic link with Tehran.

But Tory MP Bob Blackman, chairman of the influential backbench 1922 Committee, said “it’s time to change course on our Iran policy”.

Mr Blackman, who coordinated the letter, said: “Our ally, the US, rightly designated the IRGC as a terrorist entity several years ago. While the regime has never been weaker, we must set aside all wrong-headed political and diplomatic calculations and proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist entity — an action long overdue.”

Following the recent arrests and charging of the Iranian men, Mr Blackman said: ““Iranian terrorism has reached our soil. A serious terror plot, involving several Iranians, was recently thwarted in the UK.”

The letter came as Mostafa Sepahvand, Farhad Javadi Manesh and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori were charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist the Iranian foreign intelligence service between last August and February.

Sepahvand was also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research, intending to commit serious violence against a person in the UK.

Manesh and Noori have also been charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.

Former Tory MP and minister David Jones said there is a “growing consensus among UK politicians that the time for a new policy on Iran has arrived”.

The MPs backed Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s 10-point plan to “end the religious dictatorship and transfer sovereignty to the people’s representatives”.

The group calls for an end to compulsory hijab and religion, an end to dictatorship and executions and a democratic Iranian state. The Foreign Office was asked to comment.

Following the charges brought against the three Iranian men, Yvette Cooper promised to strengthen national security powers.

The home secretary said: “I want to thank the police and security services for their continuing work on this very serious investigation, and for their immense dedication to protecting our national security and the safety of our communities.

“The charges that have been laid against these three individuals must now take their course through the criminal justice system and nothing must be done to prejudice the outcome of those proceedings.

“But we will also take separate action to address the very serious wider issues raised by this case.

“The police have confirmed that the foreign state to which these charges relate is Iran, and Iran must be held to account for its actions.

“We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil.”

Calls for wealth tax as Rich List shows just 350 families have £772bn

Millionaires have called on the government to properly tax the richest people in Britain, after it was revealed that just 350 families hold over £772bn of the nation’s wealth.

Members of the Patriotic Millionaires have urged for a “long overdue” wealth tax to invest in “our much-loved country”, adding that the wealth of the top 350 people could cover the total cost of the UK’s annual healthcare spend three times over.

The call comes after the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List revealed the annual catalogue of Britain’s wealthiest people, with famous figures including Sir Elton John, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and the King all making the list.

Responding to the publication, Julia Davies, an angel investor who sold her stake in backpack and travel bag company Osprey Europe, said: “Once again this year’s rich list shows the phenomenal wealth that is stuck at the top with a whopping £772bn in the hands of a mere 350 people.

“Those wringing their hands about fewer billionaires and the threat of multi-millionaires leaving would be better off focusing on real British problems, like our crumbling NHS, than nursing the niche concerns of the super-rich.

“£772bn, held by just 350 families, would cover the total cost of the UK’s annual healthcare spend three times over. Properly taxing this wealth, to invest in our much-loved country, is long overdue.”

The 37th annual list reveals who are the 350 richest individuals and families in the UK, based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies.

At the top was the Hinduja family, who sat in first place for the fourth consecutive year despite a decline in their fortune.

Gopi Hinduja and his family, who are behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, were recorded as having £35.3bn.

The Hindujas were followed in the list by real estate moguls David and Simon Reuben, who moved up to second after increasing their wealth to £26.9bn.

They were followed by investor Sir Leonard Blavatnik, entrepreneur Sir James Dyson and shipping tycoon Idan Ofer.

Ms Davies, a member of Patriotic Millionaires, added: “Our media and political leaders need to stop focusing on the interests and habits of a small number of people who are hoarding extreme wealth at the expense of us all and instead prioritise the interests of Britain’s true wealth creators, our ordinary hardworking families, small businesses, entrepreneurs, teachers, health and other public-sector workers.

“These people are the backbone of the British economy, many of whom haven’t seen a pay rise in 15 years. Our government should treat the Rich List as the smelling salt it needs, wake up, and tax the super-rich.”

Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe came seventh in the list with a £17bn fortune.

However, the Ineos founder was the biggest faller on the list as he saw his wealth decline by around £6bn for the second consecutive year.

Other notable figures on the list included the King, who saw his personal wealth jump by £30m to £640m in the last year, making him as rich as former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty.

Charles, who acceded to the throne in 2022, ranks joint 238th in the list, up 20 places from 258th in 2024.

The monarch is £140m richer than David and Victoria Beckham, who are said to be worth £500m, with the former England captain being Britain’s richest sports star.

Meanwhile, the personal wealth of Mr Sunak and Ms Murty dropped £11m from £651m to £640m.

Since leaving Downing Street, the former prime minister has taken a part-time role at Stanford University and signed up to the Washington Speakers Bureau, while Ms Murty has a stake in Infosys, the Indian IT giant co-founded by her billionaire father.

The latest publication revealed a third consecutive slump in the number of billionaires residing in the UK, down to 156 this year from 165 in 2024.

“Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling,” said Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List.

“We are also finding fewer of the world’s super-rich are coming to live in the UK.”

He said he was also “struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves’s Treasury” when speaking to wealthy individuals for the publication.

Mr Watts said: “We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas.

“But homegrown young tech entrepreneurs and those running centuries-old family firms are also warning of serious consequences to a range of tax changes unveiled in last October’s Budget.”

Celebration villa breaks: find your perfect luxury getaway

If you’re planning a milestone birthday, a big anniversary, or a long-awaited reunion, a villa holiday is hard to beat. Imagine clinking glasses on a rooftop terrace at sunset or gathering loved ones around a candlelit garden table for a leisurely dinner under the night sky.

These special occasions deserve much more than booking out a busy hotel, and nothing beats having your own sun-drenched sanctuary where you have the space and privacy to celebrate in style. Whether you’re heading to Marrakech in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains, to the rolling hills of Tuscany, or a tropical oasis further afield, Villas are the perfect home-away-from-home for celebrating something, or someone, special.

CV Villas’ luxurious ABOVE collection offers the perfect backdrop for unforgettable moments – think breathtaking settings, total privacy, and the kind of comfort and space that makes everyone feel at home. All come with stunning interiors, sweeping views as far as the eye can see, and enviable locations in some of the world’s most sought-after spots. Each villa is hand-picked by dedicated CV Villa specialists, who are experts in helping people craft their dream getaway. Many come with their own infinity pools, breathtaking views and large alfresco dining areas, perfect for spending quality time together during life’s most important moments. Villas aren’t just places to stay, they’re a big part of the celebration itself.

From the moment you book your stay to your arrival back home, the CV Villas Concierge team is there to make everything as seamless and stress-free as possible. They are dedicated to looking after you and your party before and throughout your holiday so that you can focus on the things that really matter, like spending quality time together and celebrating without having to worry about the minor details. The team tailors each trip to exactly what you’re after, whether you’re looking to book a private boat day or need to organise a surprise celebration dinner, nothing is too much trouble. Many of the five-star villas even come with their own butlers and chefs so that you can be waited on hand and foot during your special getaway.

ABOVE villas are the epitome of luxury and come with designer interiors, infinity pools boasting panoramic ocean views, and terraces made for golden hour cocktails  – properties with serious star quality. What’s more, they’re located all around the world, from the sun-soaked shores of Spain and Greece to the palm-fringed beaches of far-flung Sri Lanka and beyond.

Sampling delicious local food is a big part of a holiday, but catering for a large group can often mean juggling different requests and palates. Luckily for you, many of these luxury villas come with their very own in-villa chefs – perfect for when you’d rather toast the moment with a glass of fizz than spend time flapping around in the kitchen. Instead, let your chef whip up multi-course meals morning till night, using the freshest local produce, all based on your personal tastes and dietary requirements, before tucking into it alfresco under the undisturbed starry night sky.

The little luxuries make a big difference to a bucket-list trip: daily housekeeping to keep things spic and span, spa treatments for when you need a little R&R, wine tastings for the adults, yoga sessions with epic views, and even round-the-clock babysitting. All of this can be arranged to make your stay feel even more indulgent.

Maison Emilion, France

This rustic French villa is practically made for wine lovers, aptly located amidst the rolling vineyards of Bordeaux. This six-bedroom hilltop hangout boasts views of the working vineyards from every angle, including from the heated pool and surrounding sunbeds. Wander into the nearby village of Saint-Émilion, then enjoy the included wine-tasting experience before settling into the garden for dinner with nothing but the glow of flickering candlelight and the moonlit sky.

Oleander, Corfu

It doesn’t get much more luxurious than Oleander in Corfu, a five-bedroom villa overlooking Avlaki Bay and the picturesque town of Kassiopi. It’s located high above the Ionian Sea and is the ideal villa for memorable summer celebrations. Soak up the sunshine from the infinity pool while enjoying views of Albania’s craggy Ceraunian Mountains, or hang out on the wrap-around terraces and communal outside dining areas. During peak season at Oleander, chef service is also included, so you can enjoy meals with your loved ones without even having to leave the villa.

Spirit of Son Fuster, Mallorca

Spirit of Son Fuster in Mallorca is hard to beat for large groups and multigenerational stays. This five-star bolthole is set in a stunning natural landscape at the foot of the Alaro twin mountains, right near the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serra de Tramuntana, and is as secluded as it gets. This gorgeous ​​14th-century manor house sleeps twenty people across ten bedrooms and even has its own on-site spa and hammam where everyone can enjoy treatments in the dedicated treatment rooms. There’s even a private cinema room for movie nights and a well-stocked wine cellar filled with local vintage wines.

Masseria Giardini, Puglia

Masseria Giardini in Puglia is the height of luxury and the perfect home-away-from-home for families and large groups. It was built in 1750 and is surrounded by leafy olive groves and landscaped gardens curated by Chelsea Flower Show winners Urquhart & Hunt. Enjoy unparalleled views of the Canale Di Pirro Valley from this ten-bedroom farmhouse and spend days lazing around in the heated pool. This villa is an architectural masterpiece, with signature stone domed roofs and hand-carved stone baths in five of the ten bedrooms.

For more travel information and inspiration and to book your perfect villa getaway, visit CV Villas

Starmer’s power is built on borrowed votes – I won’t lend mine again

When Labour is in power, it’s customary for the left wing to spend much of its time grousing about how badly it’s doing, whereas those on the right have remained staunchly silent about criticism of its leadership, no matter how outwardly deranged.

Where then, to start on Keir Starmer’s Labour, which in its much-touted plans to be the Grown-Ups coming to clear up the British Playroom after the Big Argument, now seems more determined to cosplay as Nigel Farage than to take advantage of its massive majority and put some actual Labour policies in place.

As with many people staggered by the Conservatives’ plunge into self-destruction, I did what I could to avoid them getting into power again. I lent my vote to Labour. Unlike many people, my vote made little difference. My constituency, previously Streatham, was Conservative for 74 years until turning resolutely Labour in 1992.

Where Labour should not be complacent is that my vote, as with those of many who embraced tactical voting, came from fear. The prospect of another five years of political sleaze made me feel quite unwell. However, I had also hoped that things could only get better, as I dimly remembered from school.

As was the case in 1997, a 2024 vote for Labour was a vote for hope. Yet all I have seen since Labour came to power is shocking. A government whose only inspiration for the British public is repeated epithets about the Conservatives’ 14 years in power and the ensuing black hole.

I had hoped for bold steps towards helping the roots of Britain’s problems: reinvigorating youth clubs and Sure Start centres so young people didn’t turn to gangs and online influencers for connection, and supporting parents so future generations felt confident in affording to have children. I’d certainly hoped for appreciation of the workers from abroad who keep our health and care sectors running because successive governments are too miserly to pay their workers properly.

Instead, splendid: three more prisons to be built rather than anything positive to reduce poverty, increase opportunity and reduce reoffending. Well done, Labour! This isn’t quite “40 new hospitals” territory, but it feels awfully close. A conversation around immigration that is now in its fourth day of focusing on Starmer’s inflammatory language and apparent denigration of every migrant in the UK, rather than finding solutions.

Labour has been by no means alone in its inaction on Israel’s enforced famine of Gaza, but for a generation raised on Blue Peter coverage of Bosnia and genocide in Rwanda, its silence has said volumes. And it’s not just the very young that Labour is alienating, it’s millennials and Gen X. Recent decisions on PIP and disability benefits have seemed incomprehensible if not downright cruel. Labour seems to be chasing some mythical voter who doesn’t exist, rather than listening to those it has.

There is the odd flicker of the positivity and capability so many of us hoped for: its trade deals with the US and India, Ukraine and how Starmer has stepped up to lead the coalition of the willing and support Ukraine. Wes Streeting’s immediate deal with the junior doctors was impressive, but his capitulation to the vocal minority on trans healthcare simply baffling. There is arguably little more British than letting people be who they are. And by also denigrating migrants, LGBT+ people, and women, who will inevitably have to pick up the slack when care companies cannot afford to pay for British workers and hike prices accordingly, this feels like a very un-British Labour Party.

Most shamingly of all is the news that the UK’s reputation as Europe’s leading country on LGBT+ human rights is gone. In 2015, we were top with 86 per cent. This week, we have dropped to 46 per cent – in no small part thanks to baffling white noise nonsense around loos and trans people, which successive polls show Britain at large doesn’t care about in the slightest. Nigel Farage and his policy-free pot-stirring – rightly called out by the otherwise ghastly Rupert Lowe, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day – are not where the UK should be heading. Labour has four years until the next general election. Why on earth isn’t it promoting forward-thinking policies and communicating to the public with even a modicum of skill? Why isn’t it at least trying to make a positive difference to the country’s lives, rather than dealing in the populist fear wafting across the ocean from the United States?

As the local elections showed, Reform voters won’t be won over by mystifying attempts to out-light blue the light blue. Reform continues to lead Labour in the polls, by five points this week, and eight points last week. A new poll by Survation finds voting intention for Reform at 30 per cent. Meanwhile, those who held their nose for Labour previously are joining the flood of people heading to the Lib Dems and the Greens.

Reform voters do not want Labour. And there are other parties for Labour votes to join, however much Starmer and his team refuse to believe it. In 2025, the Conservative Party is almost annihilated. Unless the government looks to its voters, whether lifelong or borrowed, by 2029 Labour may join it in the wreckage.

You don’t speak for middle England, Mr Farage, and here’s why

How many people, I wonder, seriously think that Keir Starmer has much in common with Enoch Powell? It’s true that whoever came up with the phrase “island of strangers” was, at best, naive. But those three words don’t do justice to his whole speech. Powell was a (proud) racialist. Starmer is not.

But, somehow, in modern Britain as elsewhere, we are more comfortable with pigeonholes. Not so long ago, Starmer was typecast as weak-kneed and woke-minded on the issue of immigration. Now he apparently spies the River Thames foaming with much blood. Maybe his views aren’t so extreme, but he has simply been persuaded to nudge a little to the right to undermine the threat from Reform. In other words, perhaps Starmer is, at heart, that most ridiculed of creatures: a centrist dad.

But aren’t most of us somewhere in the middle on most of the big issues of the day? The common wisdom is that we’re living in an age of great polarity, which is true up to a point. But, increasingly, I suspect, most of us aren’t attracted to extremes. We are repelled by pigeonholes and huddle for warmth somewhere in the middle instead.

I am no John Curtice, so what follows is a gut feeling rather than a psephological revelation. But that feeling, when it comes to immigration, is that most people appreciate that, as a country, we do benefit from migration, and that we also need controls on who – and how many people – should be allowed in.

In other words, we do buy the argument that migrants bring considerable benefits and are probably necessary for growth, but we also understand those who fear that, wrongly handled, there could be a risk to social cohesion – and that unskilled workers, in particular, feel threatened by the lower pay rates that an excessive number of foreign workers can cause.

In other words, Starmer was right two years ago when he spoke up in favour of migration and also right today in wanting to set boundaries. He’s more or less in tune with most people, who are not in favour of uncontrolled migration any more than they share a cruel obsession with denying sanctuary to those most in need.

See also Israel-Palestine. Most people surely agree that Israel had to defend itself after the barbarous 7 October attacks by Hamas. But many, if not most, people now consider that Israel’s response has been wildly, possibly criminally, disproportionate. By holding these two thoughts, they are not siding with either the Islamist radicals or the ethno-nationalist hardmen propping up Benjamin Netanyahu. Stop the killing, end the famine, and get around a table and talk. That’s where most people are.

On trans issues, the majority probably feel sympathy and understanding towards people who feel trapped in the wrong body. They probably believe that such people should be free to live whatever lives they want – including self-identifying in terms of gender. They simultaneously acknowledge that, in a tiny proportion of cases, there might be issues to resolve sensitively around toilets, prisons and sport. Anyone with any personal knowledge of trans people will know that 99.9 per cent are not in prison, don’t compete in sport and quietly resolve any issues around bathrooms. The obsessive vitriol and noise about the 0.1 per cent leaves most of us cold.

And then Brexit. Most people could see there were some sovereignty issues with “rule from Brussels”, but that there were also huge economic benefits from being part of a trading bloc. It was, literally, a trade-off: freedom of movement brought advantages as well as disadvantages.

Self-evidently and by a small margin, it transpired that we were relaxed about a form of decoupling. But support for the most extreme version of severance was limited and is declining now the economic (and security) consequences are becoming icily apparent.

That leaves climate change. Most people accept that it is very real – and that we need to move fast to try and mitigate the damage that a significant rise in warming will cause. Most support an energy transition, though they are up for a constructive argument about how fast and at what cost. The majority of people don’t want to go back to coal or maintain our reliance on fossil fuels for longer than we have to. If there’s a cleaner way of generating energy, bring it on.

Moderation in all things. But contrast that instinctive moderation with how most of these issues are presented and discussed as either/or rather than a bit of both. When did we lose the art of nuance and reasonable discussion? The easy response is to blame it all on social media algorithms, which do, indeed, favour the shouters and the polarisers. But is that the only explanation?

Some argue that a fairer voting system would change the nature of the debate so that we could discuss in shades of grey rather than the prevailing black and white. We’re tired of the adversarial approach to everything.

Does the mainstream media have to accept some responsibility for the way we force people to take more eye-catching positions than those they actually believe in? Or have we simply lost the art of nuance? Keir Starmer as Enoch Powell – really?

Our instinct for moderation was once considered a defining British – or, at least, English trait. We didn’t fall for fascism or communism in the Thirties because we – well, because we huddled somewhere in the middle.

George Orwell, famously writing under the hail of Nazi bombs in February 1941, said: “Like all other modern people, the English are in process of being numbered, labelled, conscripted, ‘coordinated’. But the pull of their impulses is in the other direction, and the kind of regimentation that can be imposed on them will be modified in consequence. No party rallies, no youth movements, no coloured shirts, no Jew-baiting or ‘spontaneous’ demonstrations. No Gestapo either, in all probability.”

And so it turned out. Which makes it all the stranger that Nigel Farage, with his Mr Toad flat cap and yellow cords, has managed to brand himself as the epitome of Englishness. Speak for England, Nigel? I don’t think so. Let’s hear it for the neglected middle.