A lot of chat lately about how shockingly dishonest the Tories are. There's a sociological reason for this. It's not (just) a moral failing on the part of conservatives.

Conservativism is basically a political project of popularising inequality. This is structurally dishonest. It means deceiving people about reality & about their interests.

Also means having to delegitimise movements & institutions that produce more accurate accounts of how society functions. That's why the left is attacked obviously.

But its also why liberal institutions e.g. the humanities & the social sciences are so often in the firing line. Evidence can threaten interests/ideology.

The lies also become more wild & incoherent during crises when those interests feel more threatened & dominant ideologies become unstable.