What just happened and how did we get into this mess?
Since the 2016 referendum, the UK has been in a crisis of its own making. But there are more reasons for this than Brexit alone. A wave of disruption has hit political parties, the mainstream media, public experts and all kinds of officials. Along the way, there have been dramatic and sometimes shocking events: the burning of Grenfell Tower and the Windrush scandal, the rise and fall of the Brexit Party, Boris Johnson’s Conservative purge and his resounding election victory. The state’s response to the pandemic was a further sign of how abnormal things had become.
As the ‘mainstream’ of politics and media has come under attack, the basic norms of public life have been thrown into question. Authoritarian and nationalist forces advance as liberalism recedes.
This Is Not Normal takes stock of a nation that no longer recognises itself. Davies finds the narrative sense behind app
