Read Brian Eno's stark and poignant New Year message

Taking to his Facebook page on January 1, Eno addressed the “pretty rough year” of 2016 and questioned whether it is “the end – not the beginning – of a long decline”.

“This decline includes the transition from secure employment to precarious employment, the destruction of unions and the shrinkage of workers’ rights, zero hour contracts, the dismantling of local government, a health service falling apart, an underfunded education system ruled by meaningless exam results and league tables, the increasingly acceptable stigmatisation of immigrants, knee-jerk nationalism, and the concentration of prejudice enabled by social media and the internet,” he wrote.

He blamed the “huge wealth inequalities” for the decline of democracy and urged readers to “start something big”.

“It will involve engagement: not just tweets and likes and swipes, but thoughtful and creative social and political action too,” he continued. “If we want social generosity, then we must pay our taxes and get rid of our tax havens. And if we want thoughtful politicians, we should stop supporting merely charismatic ones.”

He concluded that “inequality eats away at the heart of a society, breeding disdain, resentment, envy, suspicion, bullying, arrogance and callousness,” before adding that “if we want any decent kind of future we have to push away from that, and I think we’re starting to.”

Read the full message here:

Brian Eno's new album Reflections is out now.