Facts are always, and will be, sacred

TRYING to sort the wheat from the chaff and the truth from deception in public discourse is becoming more and more difficult. 

The shameful excesses of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s squirming over her email policy have brought deception to a new level, and ushered in the post- factual age of political debate. The unhinged and dishonest assertions — £350m extra a week for the NHS — of those who argued for Brexit reached another low.

It may always have been thus — propaganda is an ancient art after all — but straightforward lying seems ever-more common and unchallenged. And worst of all, accepted.