Blog Post | Is This Real Hell!?

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, 2025 arrived. And then left. Leaving nothing but hell and misery in its wake. As we enter 2026, shivering in the freezing temperatures and snow, the fourth anniversary of the start of the never-ending war in Ukraine looms. It's dawned on me that the apocalypse I've been reading about in dystopian novels may no longer be metaphorical - it's already set up camp in our collective backyard. 

More and more cities are flattened and more and more sternly worded emails are sent to Mr. Putin. I picture him sitting shirtless at his mammoth gold table, rubbing his hands together like a Bond villain, savouring in the destruction he has set in motion. His finger hovering ominously close to the nuclear button.

Over in Gaza, there was much talk of a ceasefire - at least in the Western media - but no one told the actual Gazans who continue to be shot and starved to death. The rich 1% do need those Palestinians to go away as quickly as possible. They've already heavily invested in holiday apartments along the Mediterranean coast and don't want their view of the sea to be blighted by the sight of headless children. Gaza has shown us how easy it is to look away, making it so much easier for us to scroll past and ignore the ongoing catastrophes in Sudan, Yemen and the Congo.

It felt like the soundtrack to 2025 was a new genre called Global Dystopia. A nightmarish soundscape made up of the discordant sounds of human suffering layered with off-beat indifference. A little bit like free jazz, but not quite as awful.

Authoritarianism replaced democracy as the default setting in 2025 - a trend that looks set to continue in 2026. In the so-called "land of the free", any remaining human rights, common sense and belief in science were relegated to the footnotes of history. The FIFA Peace Prize-winning president's government looks less like a democratic institution and more like a reality show that's been scripted and financed by oligarchs, white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination

from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy,

indifference, and undernourishment.

Robert Maynard Hutchins

As midnight struck on 31st December 2025, Trump made his new year's resolutions. The first was to capture the President of Venezuela and take him to the US to be charged. Now, obviously, Maduro is an authoritarian dictator who did need to be taken out. I'm just not convinced that being taken out by an authoritarian dictator is the lasting solution the Venezuelan people were dreaming of. Trump claims to be bringing stability to the Venezuelans, and nothing says stability better than an armed intervention under the guise of a national resources grab.

Massive protests erupted in Iran in 2025 and have continued into 2026. Rights groups have estimated that over 2,500 protestors have been killed in the brutal crackdown. Trump has stepped up again, saying he'll make peace in Iran. The same way he's made peace in Ukraine. And Gaza. I guess once he learns that Iran holds approximately 12-14% of global oil reserves he can just go in and abduct the Ayatollah.

At the time of writing, we're barely two weeks into 2026, but it already feels like a lifetime has passed. What could possibly happen next? The world is burning, the arsonists hold press conferences and the rest of us are expected to keep calm, carry on, and buy a reusable coffee cup to do our bit. Democracy has joined the ranks of nice-to-haves, just like affordable housing and free healthcare. "Never Again" has officially become "Again", but louder and in HD.

Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their

lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for

facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on

the power of man who can fabricate it.

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951

We're alive during a live-streamed genocide and authoritarianism has been repackaged and rebranded into something new, bold and unavoidable. The powerful lie, the rich profit and we're told to just keep on scrolling.

So, don't sit back. Don't relax. And don't enjoy. This year is going to test us all. We're watching the collapse of morality, democracy, international law, and empathy in real time. All neatly wrapped up for us by people who will never face the consequences of their actions. Pay attention. Be uncomfortable. Be annoying. Refuse to scroll past. The world is currently a masterclass in inequality, cruelty and surreal absurdity, and we must not let it become the norm.