We're now living in a post-facts age '“ where mouthy Katie is listened to

Darryl Morris, a radio presenter and Lancashire Evening Post columnist

'˜I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It hits below the intellect' '“ Oscar Wilde.

Several weeks ago, in what we can now regard as the peaceful waters before our country hit a political iceberg, I sat on an uncomfortable stool in a TV studio and looked professional loudmouth Katie Hopkins directly in the eye.

“Do you believe it?” I said, with a bluntness that surprised even myself.

“What do you mean?” she replied, knowing exactly what I meant.

“Do you believe the things you say?”

I didn’t get a straight  answer.

There came a garbled defence of her even being in the room. Something between “I know I’m being completely ridiculous, but it seems to be working, doesn’t it?” and “Yes, I absolutely believe it, who’s asking?”

There followed a farcical television debate in which she claimed young people shouldn’t bother to vote because that means we’ll likely leave the EU and that’s exactly what she wants.

I kept calm. I knew what was going on. I knew the game she was playing and so did she.

Then came immigration.

Etched in my mind was a newspaper column in which she suggested turning our ‘battleships’ on innocent migrants in the Mediterranean as they sought a life away from conflict.

I went for her, my cheeks reddening and my heart pounding through my chest.

I did what I’d wanted to do for a while ... and it was exactly what she had hoped for.

In an environment in which the media, including myself and, at the risk of it being removed by the editor, this newspaper, are clambering around to cut through the noise and get your attention, it is all too common for facts and reason to be thrown out in favour of outlandish claims.