Grant Shapps is heralding Falkirk as some sort of Trade Union Conspiracy. While the Police found no charges could be made, Shapps is talking up allegations of criminal acts (such as forging Direct Debit Mandates) for which he has no evidence. If he did, prosecutions would take place. No doubt. It would embarass the Left. But there have been no offences of the kind hinted at by Shapps.

The point for anybody outside of Conservative Central Office is this: we are all fair game for the Lynton Crosby machine now. There is a year to the election and there will be a constant drip, drip, drip of antidemocratic nonsense.

Forget about your own particular interest for one moment. Think about this question: just how long will you survive under a second term of an increasingly authoritarian, thuggish, disconnected government? Even Hitler and Stalin were elected.

It is not about having an argument on the left. It is very much about assessing realistic chances of survival. For some people this means avoiding death. For others it means keeping hold of a crappy job. For others it is about retaining their difficult grasp on health.

The truth is that the next year will be about divide and rule. The lies, disinformation and media manipulation is just about to crank up.