This ‘never again’ moment will inform everything from fiscal policy to Brexit – most importantly, what about public trust?
Traumatic events bequeath traumatised legacies. We know this in our personal lives. The same is also true for nations and their politics. The tragedy and farce of the past months are not over. There may be further convulsions, especially if Boris Johnson returns. But even if he does not, these months will leave searing effects as British politics endures a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Many countries continue to live with much darker horrors in their collective psyches. Modern Germany is still shaped by an unbending rejection of the Nazi past. United States foreign policy remains indelibly marked by the disaster of Vietnam. In Russian history there was a period, lasting from 1598 until 1613, that is simply known as the “time of troubles”; Vladimir Putin constantly tries to bolster his authoritarian rule by warning that such a time must never come again.
Martin Kettle is a Guardian associate editor and columnist
