A reason to be hopeful: in Poland they’ve kicked out the rightwing populists. Britain can too | Polly Toynbee

Demography played a role, as did education and the voting system. All provide key lessons for Keir Starmer's Labour

In a darkening world, a radiant beam shines out from Poland. Look, it is possible to push back the authoritarian populist tide. Extreme rightwingers who sack judges, try to silence opposition journalists, impose a near-total abortion ban and create what activists decry as gay-free zones" can be overcome. Unprecedented numbers can be persuaded to vote, including usually reluctant young people.

Britain, where one party of the right nearly always wins, with the press dominated by plutocrats and an electoral system warped to favour the Tories, has lessons to learn from how Poland's Law and Justice party (PiS) was vanquished. Labour will have watched the campaign of Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party and the other anti-PiS parties that are about to form a coalition.