As Canada and Australia vote, the pendulum of our times is swinging towards competence and away from chaos and culture wars, away from celebrity politicians and back towards bland technocrats who talk about “hinge moments” and “missions”.


Josie's column in the Post quotes hedge fund manager Ray Dalio’s observation of five forces changing the world from the one we used to know:

- Enormous debt has financed the US stock market expansion while governments are stuck in persistent large deficits.

- Vast inequality in income, education and opportunity is creating political dysfunction.

- Geopolitics are realigning as the post-war US hegemony in the global order ends.

- Natural disasters and pandemics have increased, and amplified population movements.

- AI and technology are reshaping the global economy at warp speed.

Our political culture evolved when the pace of change was more foreseeable, and there was time to adjust. Now, change is abrupt and the familiar is swept away when we reach for reassurance. The trick of the populist is to find a villain to blame for the costs of change. Outsiders usually. Or elite institutions.