Wes Streeting says the volume of homophobic abuse since becoming Britain’s first openly gay Defence Secretary has been extraordinary. Yet his appointment was also treated as almost unremarkable. Progress and backlash are happening at the same time. Britain can move forward and backwards at the same time. Wes Streeting becoming the country’s first openly gay Defence Secretary is a striking example. In one sense, his appointment passed with remarkably little.

Around 30,000 people were estimated by organisers to have gathered in Trafalgar Square for a vigil for Professor Jason Arday. Whatever the precise count, tens of thousands offered a picture of Britain that rarely dominates the algorithm: public solidarity against racism. If Britain were judged only by its most viral posts, it would be easy to believe the country had become a permanent argument. Anger travels faster than solidarity, racist abuse is.

We keep being told who to blame for high rents, stagnant wages and strained public services. Curiously, the target is often another group of ordinary people rather than those with the power to change the system. Something strange keeps happening in Britain. Problems that took years to build are repeatedly explained as though they were caused by whichever group is currently easiest to turn into a political target.

Violence or threats against one community cannot be answered by targeting another. Collective blame turns individual crimes into permission for hatred and leaves innocent people paying the price. When a synagogue is attacked, Jewish people should not have to wonder whether their neighbours will treat them as representatives of a distant conflict. When a mosque is threatened afterwards, Muslims should not be made to answer for an attack they did not commit..

As Britain becomes increasingly divided by politics, identity and hate, Dolly Parton leaves us with a different message: you can disagree without dehumanising, accept people without being the same, and use success to help others. Britain spends a great deal of time being told who it should fear, resent or blame. Political identity is increasingly treated as a test of character, disagreement becomes betrayal, and social media turns the sharpest insult into.