Welcome to 2022: Reasons to be optimistic, a thread.

Due to the length this comes thread in 2 parts.

It is necessarily a personal view, and I'm sure lots of people will disagree.

1. I found myself on 1 Jan feeling more optimistic than I might have expected. This thread sets out why. Some of you who follow me will recognise elements, but this is the first time I have brought them together.

2. Since the referendum in 2016, many of us have lived with a sense of loss. It has been clear from immediately after the referendum that the policy of the Tory govt, starting with Theresa May, has been to crush opposition rather than open a dialogue to seek unity.

3. Those who voted to remain were to be cast as “out of touch” with public mood, and if they continued to hold to their beliefs, "nutty" and “Anti-democratic”. I have reason to believe this was a deliberate policy decision taken at the highest level in the Tory party.

4. The policy was adopted because the outcome of the referendum was so close it was questionable whether it could be a sound basis for a massive constitutional change. If opposition continued, or grew, it would become a serious threat.