The word of the year reflects a world seized by constant anxiety, but how did we get here and are we past the point of no return?
It was the headline that summed up an era of unprecedented upheaval. Splashed in black and white across the front page of The Sun, the words “Crisis? What crisis?” helped to bring down the Labour government in 1979.
It did not matter that James Callaghan never uttered the phrase that went on to become the former prime minister’s political epitaph; in just three words, the paper managed to capture the hubris of a flailing administration seemingly unaware of the disaster unfolding on its watch.
More than four decades on, there is a new designation for the calamitous times we face, and it makes for even more uncomfortable reading.
“Permacrisis” has just been chosen as the new word of the year by Collins Dictionary to describe what has turned out to be one of the most tumultuous periods in recent memory.