Why did I stop writing about politics?

When I started this blog, I was fresh out of university and completely clueless about what I wanted to do next. I had spent three years studying history and politics so it only felt right when I started that I would write about what I knew.

I started this blog in 2016, the very first thing I posted was called 'Brexit, Boris and Bad Politics.' The second post was called ‘Goodbye 2016, Hello 1933.’ From the titles alone, I am sure you can gather how I was feeling about the political landscape at the time.

The urge to go back to my roots and write about politics again started to grow around January 2025.

Cast your mind back to 21^st January 2025, it was the day after Donald Trump's second Inauguration ceremony as president of the United States. Footage of Elon Musk doing a Nazi salute whilst on live tv was doing the rounds online.

I felt sick. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I thought politics had hit rock bottom in 2017, in reality it was just the tip of the iceberg.

I had stopped writing about politics because I felt like it was impossible to keep up as we lurched from one insanity to the next. The speed at which things would change meant that I was never confident in my views as the landscape continuously shifted.

I remember when the creator of one of my favourite tv shows 'The Thick of it' Armando Iannucci was asked if he would be making another series, his response was that the climate was "beyond any attempt to even try to explain it comedically."*

A huge concern for me when writing about politics, was that I did not feel there was any way I could be sufficiently educated on matters to allow me to present my views to the internet. Whilst this remains a concern for me, I acknowledge that there are people espousing their views backed by very little knowledge or truth with no such concerns. The way in which I attempt to understand the world around me is through writing. Therefore, while I may not be the most informed on a given subject, I will endeavour to do what research I can in order to learn more. If by posting what I have learned here, I am able to help others in their understanding of this confusing world then I believe this can only be positive.

Today, I feel compelled to engage with politics in a way I have avoided for quite some time.  Whilst I am not entirely sure why I feel this sense of responsibility to write about such things. There is a guilt I feel having not been moved to write about; the catastrophic failures of the Conservative party in the last 12 years, the rise and fall of Corbynism, the rise of the Far right, and the continued complicity of the UK government in the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

Politics has become so divisive it is terrifying. We have stopped listening to each other. As soon as we see that someone disagrees with our stance on something we dismiss them as wrong and seek out those who agree with us. We preach to the choir, scream into our own echo chambers and wonder why we can’t affect change.

At first, I thought I was protecting my peace by not writing about politics because I would not have to keep up with the news. Whilst it is right, I was avoiding new cycles, I was still absorbing media daily, Scrolling past clickbait headlines and vitriolic comment sections.

I was not protecting my peace, I was scared. Scared of the response to my opinions, scared to offend or upset people. I no longer feel like that is a luxury I can afford. Even if nobody reads what I write, I have a vehicle to try and make sense of what is going on around me. The world we live in is terrifying and feels as though it is getting worse by the hour.

My goal is to do my best to stay informed, educated, and sufficiently angry in a toxic political landscape that thrives on society’s apathy, individualism, anti-intellectualism, division and fear.

The phrase: ‘Knowledge is Power’ has never felt more pertinent.

*https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a850775/armando-iannucci-the-thick-of-it-wont-be-return-reason-why/