There was, within living memory, an infrastructure of collective thinking in this country —  an infrastructure, above all else, for thinking about politics. Collective spaces recede The union branch, the party, the working men’s club, the tenants’ association, the chapel and the co-operative were not simply organisations people joined. These were places where political thought was produced through dialogue and shared experience, translating grievances, whether at home or at work, into collective political action. That infrastructure has been demolished over the last four decades. Union membership has particularly declined from its 1979 peak of 13.2 million to around 6.4 million today.…