If Gen Z has given up on democracy, we’re in even more trouble than we thought

Half of Gen Z – those aged between 13 and 27 – want Britain to be ruled by a dictator. They found that a third thought Britain would be better “if the army was in charge”, while almost half agreed that “the entire way our society is organised must be radically changed through revolution”. She told me that Gen Z hasn’t been brought up “in the turmoils of the 20th century and the resulting democratic consensus ingrained in any generation born in the second half of the 20th century”. “They’ve Filby concludes: “Is it any wonder they are questioning the effectiveness of democracy?” I would add this generation came to political awareness post-global financial crisis of 2007-08. Let me start with a three-point plan: far tougher treatment of politicians who don’t tell the truth and who don’t deliver on their promises; a properly funded and properly impartial BBC as a counter to online disinformation and downright lies, which can never be fully controlled; and the teaching of citizenship and democracy to all our school pupils, with due reverence for the culture and history of Britain, which has given so much that is good, including parliamentary democracy, to the rest of the world.