Interesting thread.

The thing is, democracy is fragile; democratic structures need work to keep them going. Let them wither (or kill them outright) and people forget they were ever there; they forget democracy was even possible. https://twitter.com/russophiliac/status/1391733022278524928

As a society we're a long way down this path, I'm afraid. The fixation on elected *leaders*, even on the Left - Starmer contrasted with Corbyn, Burnham hailed as an alternative - is a morbid symptom.

It's not so much that we don't value intermediate democratic institutions or even that we don't think they're possible; it's more that the thought of intermediate democratic institutions never comes to mind. It's a gap in our mental maps, and with time we forget the gap is there.

I'm not convinced that academics and journos are worse than the average bear wrt this, but both groups do tend to be highly confident that they know what's what; this makes them effective at disseminating conventional knowledge, complete with its gaps and blind spots.

And it is true that any academic or journalist senior enough to have a platform has reached that position through a lot of competition and a lot of emphasis on their own unique good qualities; they aren't disciplines that encourage collective thinking.

Good thread, anyway (and more optimistic than this one). https://twitter.com/russophiliac/status/1391730489304682497