We never know who is going to rule, but the beauty of democracy is that we know we can always get rid of them. So why wouldn’t we fight like blazes to preserve it?

Before he faced the crowd to discuss the topic of Democracy is Not Worth Dying For, David Runciman – the celebrated podcaster and Cambridge professor of politics – joked to me and our fellow panellist, Masha Gessen: “The answer is obviously ‘no, it’s not’, so why don’t we all just agree and go home?”

Gessen, the formidable Russian-American journalist, smiled in agreement. We were about to address the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney. Most had come to hear these intellectual superstars define the limits of political self-sacrifice; I cheerfully served as a bolt-on historian.