There has been a three part documentary on BBC Two recently about how the Nazis came to power in 1930’s Germany. Whatever your political persuasion, it is worth watching as it shows just how quickly Germany changed from a liberal democracy to full on fascist.

Now, I know much has changed since then and a fascist movement, you would think, would struggle to gain enough traction for power in the modern world. However, there are striking similarities between the 1930’s and now.

Notably, are the similarities with regards to none of mainstream parties being able to command a majority, leaving a vacuum for an outsider who plays a likeable tune to the working man.

What has alarmed me is how many seemingly intelligent people don’t even know what fascism is. Most people know that Germany wasn’t a very nice place to be in the 1930’s and 40’s but they don’t seem to know how and why it came to be.

If you are not really into documentaries, just watch the first 20 minutes of part one. I promise you you will see many parallels between the 1930’s and now. Political joke figures quickly finding their way into mainstream politics and eventually power.

Like I said earlier, it wouldn’t be easy for an extremist ‘man of the people’ to take an authoritarian grip on the nation but I would say its not impossible either. Hitler didn’t start with gas chambers, he started by tapping into the disaffected nationalists by the great depression.

That’s why, in my opinion, the supreme court should rule against Boris Johnson making unilateral decisions without parliament consent. Once he has done it once, it sets a dangerous precedent and could easily lead to dictatorship in the future.

If parliament ceases to be able to block potentially dangerous laws and ideologies, we are toast as a democracy.

*Watch ‘The Rise of the Nazis’ by clicking here.