They obviously get the ideas from the same sources. Somewhere they don't invite ordinary people to like Davos or other conferences.

Could just be monkey see monkey do.

Then it is monkey see, monkey do the same/similar policies on smoking control, LEZ, digital ID, children's education, red meat and fish consumption, alcohol consumption, women's rights and a whole host of other things.

Some of these are good causes, some not so much. Some of them rely on an excluded middle.

Are you suggesting there's some shadowy cabal responsible for getting women the right to vote?

Erm, no I'm not. I'm pointing out the homogenisation of policies across multiple countries.

You should be well aware by this point in life that plenty of good causes are used to justify not so good things. Or to put it another way, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".

On the most basic level, I could give the example of various children's charities being used to line the pockets of someone rather than doing what they are supposed to. That has happened a number of times.

In much the same way, we can see child safety and bullying (both of which are real issues) being used to excuse clamping down on freedom of expression online. A generation ago, the excuse of terrorism was used to remove civil liberties as well.

With women's rights, we see a genuine issue being abused. We see women from upper class or aristocratic backgrounds like Ursula von der Leyen getting jobs, while the bulk of women continue to work in grinding poverty, and can barely support themselves let alone a family. That is just the same old oligarchy and nepotism with a female face.

Sorry, I'm afraid I don't have a clue what point you're making, then, beyond "some things are bad."

I'm making the point that many legislatures are no longer displaying initiative or autonomy as they should, but doing the same as each other. It is obvious that in many cases they derive their policies from the same handful of thinktanks and conferences etc. As a result we get homogeneity across multiple legislatures as opposed to testing out more varied solutions.

You don’t need a formal conspiracy when interests converge.

At the same time? I don't think so. Almost everyone talks to each other and takes notes. We know they do. The World Economic Forum is real and has a website you can access. They talk about policies like this under their "Fourth Industrial Revolution" section and don't even hide it. The same policies are repeated across much of the world on everything from smoking to driving to digital ID, regardless of who gets voted in.

It’s the political equivalent of a TikTok trend.

You see others doing it and think it’s a good idea, so you do it too.