[TheOtherHobbes]

Populations usually split one third reactionary, one third progressive, and one third will-vote-how-they're told.

If the policy is "popular" - which it isn't, except among the reactionaries - it's in no small measure because the UK media have normalised this kind of abuse.

This kind of thing is almost a predictable syndrome associated with post-colonialism. Other countries have been through it, now it's the UK's turn.

When countries lose their empires/influence, racism and fascism provide a compensation that can temporarily restore childish fantasies of omnipotence.

It's associated with a death wish, so things generally get worse - sometimes much worse - before they get better.