Floundering around, learning by doing but also by failing, is not only good but inevitable.

What you don't do is just say, "I've got all the ideas and all the knowledge, and listen to me."

Activists can get very preachy about things. It's more about understanding people's own experiences and tapping into them.

The death of deference seems to be general at the moment, so everybody has to earn their reputation and trust all over again. You don't just get it by virtue of being a professor or a politician or anybody else.

There's a tendency for people who believe passionately in something to be so convinced of their rightness that if they just repeat themselves a lot at the person, that will convince them. And that hasn't worked on things like immigration or trade deals.

In the end, that's a blind alley - we have to get back to being able to think on our feet and react.

People are saying, "I have a right to my opinion. Don't just keep condescending, telling me what to think." There's something slightly liberating about that, but also it lends itself to being taken advantage of, because in come the demagogues.