My interest in politics started at the age of 11. The secondary school I attended in small-town Warwickshire marked the 1974 General Election with a mock election of its own. Pupils stood as representatives of the political parties standing in the national poll. Hustings were held, speeches given, ballot boxes set up. I found myself drawn to the Communist candidate. He was tall and pale, with the hair of a prog rock bassist. He painted utopian word-pictures of the egalitarian

‘This above all: to thine own self be true.’ One of many lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet that have become everyday English phrases. They are the words of Polonius, chief minister to the King, to his son Laertes before he heads off to university. Here, says Polonius, is the grandest truth a young person should carry with them through life: be true to yourself. Today Polonius’ words resonate like never before. In an age without absolutes, the one absolute is to be true to myse