Truth to power – the ability to hold those in the very highest office to account – is one of the many privileges of living in a democracy. It takes persistence, strength, the ability to speak freely and, above all, time. But last week justice was finally, and their other fibbing counterparts – there is always a lie too far, as any five-year-old will gleefully tell you. Thank goodness for all of us that our MPs finally remembered that integrity and honesty are the foundations of our society; the very minimum that we expect from those we select to represent us. We are now sitting at another crossroads, which after the past few years is something we’re all far too familiar with. Against a backdrop of war, the cost-of-living crisis and potential recession, and a global rise of extremism, this is a sliding-doors moment. The path we follow next will shape our lives for decades to come and, as we’ve seen far too well in America, the wrong decision can lead to years of danger for so many. May the words of last week be our collective moral compass – honesty, integrity, decency – and let’s remember we have the ability to keep holding truth to power. We have done it in the most challenging of circumstances, we can definitely do it again.
