Centrists are out of favour. But as the Netherlands is learning, the alternative is far worse | Arnon Grunberg

Longtime PM Mark Rutte was a bulwark against the far right. Now he's gone - and Geert Wilders' party can start a wildfire

It has become something of a cliche to reflect on the state of your country after you have woken up to - putting it somewhat euphemistically - disappointing election results.

Be it the Brexit referendum in 2016, Donald Trump's victory mere months after that, or the election victory of Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands, the reactions were very similar. Analysts claimed that voters hadn't been properly listened to and that neoliberalism had left a trail of destruction, and the failure of the left was pointed out. Then came the obligatory mention of the elite, who are said to have alienated part of the electorate. The citizen no longer recognises himself in the administrators. As if citizens would have done so a few decades ago.

Arnon Grunberg is a Dutch novelist and essayist