When did we become so accustomed to having decisions made for us that we stopped asking whether those decisions were right?
It's an uncomfortable question, but perhaps one we should all be asking.
Look around us. Politics is increasingly divisive, trust in institutions is under pressure, economies have changed, international relationships are continuing to shift and technology is moving faster than many of us can comprehend.
Yet ordinary people are still expected to get on with life, adapt, pay the bills and plan for a future that seems less certain with every passing year.
There isn't one single cause, nor one political decision responsible for everything we are experiencing, but the cumulative effect of decisions made over many years is shaping the choices and opportunities available to us today.
We vote, we pay taxes, we follow the rules and we are told that we live in a democracy. But how much influence do you genuinely feel you have over the direction your lives are taking?
And more importantly, when did we stop demanding more?
Somewhere along the way, politics seems to have become less about bringing people together to solve problems and more about persuading people to choose a side.
Left or right. Government or opposition. Remain or leave. One leader against another. We are encouraged to defend our choices, even when the evidence suggests we should reconsider them.
But politicians are elected representatives, not the owners of our opinions or our futures. Their responsibility is to serve the public, and our responsibility is to hold them accountable.
We should never become so attached to a political identity that we lose the ability to think independently.
The real question now isn't which side is right, but why we have allowed ourselves to believe that everything must be about sides in the first place.
We cannot ignore the growing visibility of far-right movements, both here in the UK and across the world. Political disillusionment, economic insecurity and a loss of trust can create fertile ground for more extreme ideas.
People have every right to question immigration, government policy and the direction of their country, but we must distinguish legitimate debate from rhetoric that encourages fear, intolerance and division.
This is precisely why independent thought matters. We must be careful not to replace one form of political allegiance with another, or allow frustration to cloud our judgement.
Consider the younger generation.
We have spent years telling them that education, hard work and ambition are the foundations of a successful life. Yet many now face enormous challenges getting onto the housing ladder, securing meaningful employment and establishing the independence previous generations may have taken for granted.
The UK's departure from the European Union changed the opportunities and practical arrangements available for working, studying and living across Europe.
And now AI is changing the world of work.
It offers extraordinary possibilities, but it also raises serious questions about employment, security and the value of skills that people are currently investing years of their lives acquiring.
We cannot predict exactly how this will unfold. But surely we have a responsibility to ask whether we are preparing young people for the world they are actually entering, rather than the world we remember.
Are we expanding their choices, or simply asking them to become more adaptable to circumstances they have little power to influence?
That is a question governments, businesses and educators should be asking and taking seriously.
The most concerning part of all this is not the decisions being made, but how easily we have become absorbed in the arguments surrounding them.
We read a headline, form an opinion and defend it. We listen to someone whose views match our own and dismiss someone whose views are poles apart.
Social media reinforces our existing beliefs, political commentary competes for our attention and now artificial intelligence can generate seemingly convincing answers to almost any question.
But when was the last time you genuinely changed your mind about something because you had taken the time to examine the evidence?
Objectivity isn't about having no opinions. It's about being willing to challenge the opinions we already hold.
It means recognising that our preferred politician can be wrong, that someone we disagree with can make a valid argument, and that the truth doesn't automatically belong to whichever side shouts the loudest.
The truth sits by itself. All it asks is for us to consider its merits.
We need to become less interested in winning arguments and more interested in understanding what is actually happening.
I'm not suggesting that we disengage from politics or stop caring about what happens in the world. Quite the opposite.
I'm suggesting that we stop allowing politics to consume us, our identity and our autonomy.
We need to look beyond party loyalties and ask what sort of society we want. We need to think about the opportunities available to our children, the freedoms we had versus the freedoms our children now have. We should also look at the communities we live in and the kind of future we are continuing to create.
Does it serve us? Is it serving future generations? Are we setting ourselves up to fail?
We need to make our own decisions, rather than simply accepting the choices presented to us.
That means questioning our government, changing our spending habits, learning new skills, supporting local businesses, becoming involved in our communities or simply taking more responsibility for the information we consume.
Small choices matter. They shape our independence, our relationships and ultimately the society we create together.
We have become so busy reacting to the decisions of politicians, institutions and powerful organisations that we have forgotten to ask ourselves what we can do differently.
We cannot control everything. We cannot reverse every political decision, prevent every economic change or stop technology from advancing.
But we can choose not to surrender our judgement.
We can choose to question rather than blindly follow. To listen rather than immediately dismiss. To understand rather than simply react.
And we can demand that those entrusted with public responsibility remember that they are there to serve the people, not the other way around.
The next generation deserves more than a world in which they are expected to accept whatever opportunities remain available to them.
They deserve the freedom to imagine something different, the means to pursue it and a genuine voice in shaping their future.
Perhaps the greatest freedom we have is not simply the freedom to vote, but the freedom to think, question and choose for ourselves.
So perhaps it's time we stopped asking which political side we belong to and started asking a much bigger question: when did we become so willing to let other people decide what our future should look like?
Because if we don't take an interest in shaping that future, we shouldn't be surprised when someone else shapes it for us.
I can write as many political arguments as I like, or as many as you're happy to read, but it doesn't help if you sit back and let others take control.
The CP Diary – A space to question, reflect and think differently.
