We all know things are going wrong. We all feel it.
Britain in 2026 feels like she's in a tough place. We The People is a vision of how we can change our fortunes and our future together. The task is enormous. But this could be the first step.
Everyone has their own list: cost of living, inequality, immigration, child poverty, global conflict — or maybe it's the potholes.
As a result, many feel powerless, angry, afraid or disillusioned.
So where can we find hope?
System Failure
The people supposedly in charge — our politicians — seem to be struggling too. So we don't know where to turn.
Some keep faith with traditional parties. Others turn to populist outsiders. Many don't bother to vote at all.
Who can blame them? Whoever we vote for, everything keeps getting worse. No wonder trust in politicians is the lowest it's ever been.
Yet there is another way. A possibility we have overlooked.
We The People can do it ourselves
Just think of the collective energy, wisdom and creativity among all 70 million of us.
Imagine what could happen if we brought that collective genius to bear. We might discover that our challenges are not as insurmountable as they seem.
Our current system is an obvious obstacle to realising that potential. But there is another, equally significant: how divided we are.
Healing Divisions
Stoked by divisive media, economic pressure and social alienation, our society feels more polarised than ever.* Politicians increasingly pitch to those extremes. The centre cannot hold.
But We The People still believe in democracy. That we can find a way to talk, compromise and forge a shared vision for our future, no matter how difficult that might seem right now.
Thankfully a powerful democratic mechanism exists to do just that.
It's called a Citizens' Assembly
In simple terms it applies the principles of jury service to politics.
A group of 100 or so ordinary people are selected at random to reflect the population as a whole by factors like class, age, gender, race etc.
They are given a difficult societal problem to face. They listen to experts and witnesses from all sides of the debate, and then talk among themselves to forge policy approaches that everyone can accept.
Why it works
Normal people are at the heart of the process so the public feel better represented than by an ego-driven political class.
Free from the pressures to win votes or funding, an assembly's decisions have greater legitimacy too.
Most importantly, impartial facilitation allows every perspective to be heard. That creates room for understanding, respect — even empathy.
We start to believe in “us” again.
It is already happening
Across the world, assemblies are already at work, helping to resolve previously intractable political problems.
In Ireland, one led to the legalisation of abortion. In France to an agreement on assisted dying. We've even had one in the UK on climate change that led to rare agreement between right and left.
This democratic mechanism has deep historical roots — and now offers hope for a peaceful, united path through this hour of crisis.
This is how we can turn things around.
* Ipsos: UK's sense of division reaches new high as culture war tensions grow
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