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It may appear graceless to ask the question, but how likely is it that Andrew Mitchell would have managed even the evasive partial apology heard today if he had thought he could get away with his arrogant loutishness towards officers of the Diplomatic Protection Group and retain his job?
Something unlooked for has happened over the last two weeks. Many of us have been turned from Olympic scepticism towards – if not an entirely uncritical enthusiasm – a frame of mind which acknowledges it has caught a glimpse of the kind of society which we could be, and has taken inspiration from it.
Power, its exercise and abuse has filled our screens and newspapers during the last week. The word takes our minds in a particular direction – towards the power that can shut down the internet, buzz protesters with fighter jets, marketise the NHS, sell off our forests, kettle and pepper-spray dissent.
Ekklesia is working on proposals to encourage more proportional systems of voting and independent politics.