Good morning. If you’re planning to go out in a big city on New Year’s Eve, it is more likely than ever that your festivities will be sponsored, guarded, overpriced and restricted. In London, Edinburgh – although not this year, as Hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled because of forecast storms – and many other cities in the UK and around the world, public squares that were once understood to be a shared space for anyone who cared to use them are now often under the control of private companies, contracted by the authorities to keep people safe, keep them spending money – and even keep them away.
This change is predicated on the idea that an unmanaged crowd is a dangerous, mindless thing that can lead even the most upstanding citizen into some sort of barbarism. In his superb new book, Multitudes: How Crowds Made The Modern World, Dan Hancox argues that this isn’t true – and that, instead, being part of a free-roaming festive crowd is among the best things about being a human being.
