THE DECISION to leave Europe, election of Donald Trump – now the rise, rather than the expected fall, of Jeremy Corbyn.

What is happening in this strange world of us? Can we find a consistent thread in what appears to be a very confusing series of events?

Firstly, it would be very wrong to stereotype the electors responsible for any one of these seismic shocks.

For all those with genuine misgivings about the role of the EU in the world, there are plenty who simply ‘don’t like foreigners’.

Certainly, many Americans were sickened by the role Hilary Clinton has played in recent world history but, equally, some were easily seduced by a candidate of little or no substance.

Who can even guess at why the British electorate comes to the conclusion it does? If we were all forced to state a reason why we voted the way we did, I fear the findings would be depressing.

I do believe, however, there is an underlying consistency and voice behind all three.

To discover this, we have to look more at the people and organisations voted against rather than for.

On all three occasions, the ‘establishment’, as we perceive it, was the common enemy.

The issue of Europe has tortured politicians from both the major parties for decades but it’s never been a problem of conscience for the elite.

As soon as the awful referendum campaign was announced, the heavyweights came out in force to ram down our throats why the European Union was good for us – aka, good for them!

Not only politicians led by Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, but bankers, economists, indeed ‘experts’ of all kinds.

I doubt most Brexit voters were totally convinced the United Kingdom would be better off outside the EU – but the choice on the ballot paper was binary and ‘out’ was the only route of protest.

It was the same, surely, for Trump? Yes, the idea of a non-politician taking high office on the world stage was attractive to some but only because of the horrific carnage, both economic and in terms of foreign policy, inflicted on the United States by those with the experience and know better.

The only way to wreak full revenge on Clinton for the sins of the cabal that has run the country for decades was to vote for Trump – although abstaining altogether would have been my choice.

In the last few weeks, Jeremy Corbyn has fought an excellent campaign.

What has resonated most is his insistence we need to redress ever growing inequalities in modern day Britain.

He successfully got over the message that we need to rumble the establishment who like things just the way they are – and mostly back the Conservatives.

Whether he could put his policies into action was neither here nor there.

A good many people, I feel, registered their vote as a protest against the direction in which the country is already heading.

In all three decisions, I sense a ‘waking up’ to the need to both question and challenge the status quo rather than a clear vision of exactly what should happen next.

This undoubtedly has rumbled the establishment who no longer can proceed with any degree of certainty.

Who knows what is the next shock on the world agenda?