We are at war.

Back in 1977 Paul Johnson, Boris's uncle, published a book called Enemies of Society, in which he castigated all those who made meaningless or unverified statements. They would, he said, destroy the basic certainties societies need to function. The book was written from a right-wing perspective; Johnson was a polemicist. But he was not wrong about this. Hannah Arendt made a similar point, in a very different way, from farther left, in her essay On Lying in Politics. They weren't joking; and now the Internet has arrived in politics in a big way and it ain’t pretty.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. The late Günter Grass foresaw its use by the alt-right back in 2004, in his last novel, Crabwalk, which I reviewed here on Goodreads a day or two after Grass died. He was all too prescient. The Web is heaving with stories from dodgy websites, propagated by social media and reinforced by half-truths from the nastier newspapers. And let’s be clear – while the worst abuses come from the right, the left has had a hand in this as well.

In an era of fake news, half-truths, social-media silos, bent media, etc. etc., I am - how shall I put it? - a fanatical fact ferret. I am sharing some of my ferreting techniques with you. Good luck. The enemies of society are all around you, and this is a war we have to win.

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