Shifting back to the centre

Support for the hard left and hard right is receding across Europe, as voters and political parties inch back towards the centre, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

Whisper it carefully. It would appear that while those on the political extremes remain full of a passionate intensity, the centre is holding.

For example, in the UK, the advance of the nationalist forces in Scotland should not distract from the fact that the hard left is in eclipse across those parts of Britain where it once walked tall, while the forces of the far right appear to be in retreat when compared with the heady days of last autumn.