Alternative facts. Fake news. Political lying. Whatever you want to call it, it’s been with us for a long time – it’s just that we just used to call it spin.

For decades the art of political spinning was as revered as it was maligned. Voters hated it, on the rare occasions they spotted it, but politicos and wonks admired the so-called “dark arts” of the most skilled. But now something has changed. We are apparently no longer willing to tolerate the twisting of facts for political gain or our entertainment. And thanks to social media, politicians can’t get away it anymore. It’s easier than ever for voters to prove that Trump’s truths are so often of the “alternative” variety, and that has stirred up a fresh anger for the game of truth and lies that has been played for decades.

Is this the end of the era of spin?

From wartime propaganda to Blair's infamous “sexed up” Iraq dossier, this is not a new technique. There are some who thought Blair ushered in the dreaded spin doctor, with Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, known at the time as the “Prince of Darkness”, among the first legendary political spinners in their own right. But this had been going on for decades – if not centuries – by the time Blair told us that things could only get better if we just looked at this other set of government statistics.

Kellyanne Conway argues with Chuck Todd over 'alternative facts'

During the Margaret Thatcher years, statistics relating to the output and profitability of Britain’s remaining mines were cherry-picked to make her case for closures, as strikers desperately sought to point out. Later, she used various techniques to cook the books over real unemployment rates. A plethora of youth training schemes and other funds were established including the “enterprise allowance” which gave anyone an income if they could prove they were setting up their own business. These people – often musicians and artists – would otherwise be plying their trade on the sidelines while claiming the dole.

By the 1990s, Major was treading along carefully in her footsteps and the Blair era became synonymous with spin. By this point, journalists were even writing books about it. In Peter Oborne’s The Rise of Political Lying, he exposed the ways that politicians were increasingly “economical with the truth”, describing it as an art form but also indicating that it was one that deserved greater contempt than it ever seemed to receive.

How far we’ve come. Now Trump’s bizarre, unjustifiable statement about the number of people attending an inauguration ceremony can dominate the news agenda for three whole days, regardless of the fact that it really doesn’t matter now many people were there. Our tolerance for spin seems to have eroded overnight.

Remember, it’s not even that Trump is so wildly different on this matter than his predecessors. Though Bill Clinton said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”, it transpired that he was being economical – or shall we say limited – with his own definition of sexual relations.

It’s not just politicians who are involved in spin. Newspapers have been using similar tactics for decades too. When journalists search for a “line”, they’re looking for the most interesting angle or perspective on a story, a nugget of information from a seemingly impenetrable set of statistics, a chink of light that appears to illuminate the murky complexity of what’s really going on. Whether it really does or not is a moot point. It does, however, create the sense that this is all a game. As a former news reporter, I know it’s a game that’s compelling to play, one that’s very easy to get caught up in. Its lures are there to be resisted; too often they are not.

Trump Inauguration protests around the World Show all 14 1 /14 Trump Inauguration protests around the World Trump Inauguration protests around the World Activists from Greenpeace display a message reading "Mr President, walls divide. Build Bridges!" along the Berlin wall in Berlin on January 20, 2017 to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United State Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World An activist holds up a sign at the "We Stand United" rally on the eve of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on January 19, 2017 in New York Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters burn a U.S. flag and a mock flag with pictures of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump outside the U.S. embassy in metro Manila, Philippines Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Filipino protestors hold placcards during a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Manila, Philippines, 20 January 2017. On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump's inaguration as the 45th president of the United States, Filipinos and Fil-Americans held a protest in front of the US embassy in Manila to denounce the incoming US president. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Hong Kong police officers and security guards look on as an anarchist protester belonging to the Disrupt J20 movement sits after using a heavy duty D-lock and motorcycle lock to chain himself to a railing at the entrance gate to the Consulate General of the United States of America in Hong Kong to protest the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, Hong Kong, China, 20 January 2017. Two activists were arrested and taken away by Hong Kong police during the demonstration. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A banner is unfurled on London's Tower Bridge, organised by Bridges Not Walls - a partnership between grassroots activists and campaigners working on a range of issues, formed in the wake of Donald Trump's election, which aims to build bridges to a world free from hatred and oppression. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters chain themselves to an entry point prior at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, U.S. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Bridges Not Walls banner dropped from Molenbeek bridge in Brussels, Belgium, 20 January 2017, in an Greenpeace action part of protests Wolrd protest in solidarity with people in the US, the day Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds an anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump placard during a rally in Tokyo, Japan, Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A Palestinian protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and against US President-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, 2017, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Banners on North Bridge in Edinburgh as part of the Bridges Not Walls protest against US President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Russian artist Vasily Slonov (L) and his assistant carry a life-sized cutout, which is an artwork created by Slonov and titled "Siberian Inauguration", before its presentation on the occasion of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a street in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds a banner during a march to thank outgoing President Barack Obama and reject US President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2017. EPA Trump Inauguration protests around the World Palestinian demonstrators protesting this week against a promise by Donald Trump to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem Reuters

We ended up in this post-truth world where “alternative facts” proliferate because, most of the time, it doesn’t really matter that much. The Government putting out some new figures on, say, employment levels and choosing the best way to dress them up is not in itself duplicitous. Likewise, whether Trump really wanted people to believe that more people attended his inauguration than Obama’s or simply wanted to claim that more would watch it using YouTube and the like, is not particularly important.

But then, sometimes, as in the case of the Iraq dossier, it does matter.

Could such a breach of trust in the pursuit of political gain ever happen again? The term “alternative facts” is a good one for our times because it demonstrates a new lack of tolerance for the tactics of the spin doctor. Now that every voter can set up a Twitter account, a Facebook page or a Medium profile, everyone is a journalist. The game is no longer finding the line but exposing the lie, and we’re all involved.