"WE know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down."  

This famous line from former Labour Leader Nye Bevan is as true today as it was when he was first quoted as saying it - in the Observer newspaper 65 years ago. 

The centre ground of politics is as empty as Donald Trump’s conscience. Bitterness and dogma rule. Debate and a willingness to listen and learn from one another would appear to have been ditched in favour of rhetoric and partisan posturing. Only the zealots are being heard. To be a political activist in 2018 involves taking a side and slavishly following the party line without engaging one’s brain. 

This binary system of 'we’re always right, you’re always wrong' politics is strangling our democracy. The level of debate in parliament is at an all time low. Even supposed highbrow programmes, such as Radio 4’s Today, BBC 1’s Question Time and BBC2’s Newsnight, serve up an endless round of smug dullards media-trained to within an inch of their lives to spout glib slogans. 

It is a sad state of affairs when Jacob Rees Mogg and Angela Rayner are the star orators at gatherings of the Tory and Labour faithful. Where is the new Tony Benn, Michael Heseltine or Barbara Castle? All of them were conviction politicians, but they also brought wit, a willingness to learn and above all a sense of humanity that puts today’s politicians to shame.

One thing worse than being in the middle of the road is being on a road to nowhere led by people who stopped listening long ago.