Today's Wentworth by-election in the east of Sydney would ordinarily be a shoe-in for the Liberal Party. This is as blue-ribbon as it gets, with a whopping 18.9% swing required for it to change hands. Wentworth was, until very recently, the electorate of the former Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, whose recent knifing precipitated this moment.

Yet despite having a good candidate, the Government is in trouble and may lose to an independent. The voting public are volatile and apparently angry, a bad weather indicator for incumbents. This is consistent with the past ten years of voting in which governments have been thrown out and minor parties have been increasingly indulged, often creating instability.

Why are folks angry? Well, some politicians have set a poor standard through their woeful conduct. Leadership spills, the overthrow of Prime Ministers and the simmering pot of Machiavellian plotting have taken a toll too. People are sick of the games. Not unreasonably, they want governments to govern.

Then there is the perceived pace of change - population growth, immigration, the global economy - all can excite fear in the imagination. The hyper-information age and the rise of disinformation are flames to this tinder. Every dog has its day; likewise, any Joe with a keyboard is a purveyor of truth, or truths, since all truths are valid, aren't they?

(The lie of the land back in 2016. Electoral returns in Wentworth. Things will not be the same tonight.)