LIKE most politicians, Jo Swinson has been the victim of online abuse, and she has become known for speaking out against it. But the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats sees the abuse, online and offline, as part of a bigger problem. The politics of the bully, she says, is back.
The biggest culprit is not hard to guess. Speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference, Ms Swinson described Donald Trump as a bully, a misogynist and a racist. She also called him the poster child for a rise in anti-liberal forces around the world.
Part of the problem with the president is his twitter fixation, but he has also failed to lead the way in condemning those who take things too far. Only the other day, Hillary Clinton spoke about how depictions of Trump holding her severed head were greeted with total silence.
Sadly, as Ms Swinson points out, the trend is a global phenomenon, and it may be that a more peaceful phase will only arrive when the promises of Trump and the like are shown to have come to nothing.
However, from the grassroots level right to the top, there is at least something that politicians can do and that is to work more closely together. There have been glimpses of greater co-operation at the Scottish Parliament, but much more is needed. Ms Swinson is right to say we are living in the age of the bully; one of the answers is to create an age of collaboration.
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