A long walk in the mountains last weekend brought sudden perspective to just how heavily the shoutiness and anger was weighing. But it was the sound of a serenity that only nature can gift – a noise of extreme unplugged-ness if you like. In recent years, probably since the pandemic lockdowns, I’ve been a big advocate of walking with my own silence. It was in a hotel room while on holiday in Arizona that we watched the first presidential election debate. The recent 5 November presidential election and its aftermath still seems like the most consequential in recent global history, and certainly of my life – and that of my children and grandchildren.
