Another splendid analysis, Umair, but I don't feel you go far enough.

The trouble with the Left in many countries is that their lovely socialist ideology basically died in 1989.

By the way, the Right's lovely capitalist ideology had a heart attack in 2007/8 but hasn't died yet, unfortunately.

Another word for "ideology" is "vision." We need a completely new Vision. We need to throw out the old two dimensional Right/Left squabble and find something three dimensional. We need to marry the good in capitalism - essentially competition - with the good in socialism - essentially co-operation - and get... What?

We need to put both the co-operation and the competition to work on saving ourselves from global heating.

Don't worry about the planet, the planet will be fine. She survived the asteroid and she'll survive us.

But we won't be fine. If our civilization falls, homo sapiens will fall with it - we're too enmeshed, too spoilt, to dependent to survive without it.

In a way Trump is helping us by showing what insanity predatory capitalism will lead us to: a pandemic run wild, the destruction of the US postal system and the blatant theft of the election. Oh and injecting bleach.

I'm sorry, but I don't see Joe Biden winning this election. I think it'll take a miracle - or at least two of the constituencies you mention, waking up and voting for him. Do you see the youth vote going to him? The working class vote? (I agree that the Boomer vote is beyond help.) He's an elderly patrician with a Corvette - why would they vote for him?

I don't think so. I think all the Trumpists will double down and vote, the scared white ladies too, the working class who quite rightly want to destroy a system that's betrayed them.

I really hope I'm wrong on this. There's time for those two constituencies to wake up. Miracles can and do happen. Maybe the Republicans will rediscover their sense of honour.

Maybe.

In the meantime, politics needs to be completely reinvented. Fast.

In the meantime we need a revolution.