Are we starting to see the end of 'political correctness'? With Trump and Sanders doing well in the US election race on the back of outspoken comments, and Europe sinking under Merkel's open door to immigration, are we finally seeing the demise of PC-nonsense and the return of common sense?

No to both.

I'm not sure what political correctness is since the answer changes depending on who you ask.

We are seeing a polarisation of politics. In the US who does the "moderate" vote for if it turns out it's a choice between Sanders and Trump?

Perhaps fear that it might go that way will mean neither gets the nomination in the end.

In a cointry where the vast majority have never left their home state, never mind the US and a deep dislike of the Federal Government in a lot of states it's easy to see why someone like Trump can ramp up fear. The world will be in for misery if he gets elected.

Would they become isolationist? Would they throw their weight about more? Would they cosy up to Russia? Could end up with Europe and the UK being defenceless overnight.

Just how would a power bloc like Europe be defenceless?
Against Russia?
Disadvantaged maybe .....

Oh how I long for the days of an isolationist US.

No way will they cosy up to Russia. The Americans are the most paranoid nation on earth and there is no way they will publicly cosy up to the "Commies" under a Republican President.
A Republican President means further expansion of the American Empire. Probably ground troops in Syria and Libya and possibly expanding the air war to Yemen and probably Lebanon.

Whilst there's plenty of criticism to throw at Obama, one of his praise-worthy actions is in resisting the blood-thirsty foreign policy of the Right in America. Even if the trade-off has been drone strikes.

A Republican President (certainly any of those monstrosities toward the top of the Republican list of contenders at the moment) means further encirclement and provocation of Russia and a belligerent stance toward Iran. Not to mention the furtherance of oil industry interests at the expense of other energy forms.

There's a load of waffle being talked by the Republicans about the poor state of the US Military. It's complete tosh. They've never been more powerful and never been more dangerous.
Pray and hope for Sanders in the White House or we're another step toward the modern equivalent of World War 3.

Obama's haphazard withdrawal from Iraq (including telling the world when it would happen) helped sow the seeds of ISIS' success.

That was going to happen whenever the Americans withdrew thanks to position they'd put themselves in, that of a hated occupier. Though if I remember rightly it was Bush who initially ordered the retreat.
But you can't keep the withdrawal of 170,000 troops secret anyway. Too many people need to know in both America and Iraq.

I agree with Dally's oft repeated line. Obama has made the world a more dangerous place.

What withdrawal are we talking about? The last time I checked the number of US military withdrawals was offset by a (VAST) increase in mercenaries who perform pretty much the same task without having to keep pesky records.

As for the concept of "political correctness" - it's just another way of dividing people.

It reminds me of the seventies and eighties when the women's movement was threatening to make some serious political inroads (remember the Nuclear Freeze?). Then - purely by COINCIDENCE - came the issue of abortion which set them at each other's throats and completely neutralised their effectiveness as a political force.

All you need to know about Donald Trump:

When "The Donald" opened "Trump Towers" in Atlantic City he was given the $250,000,000 capital investment, a stake in the gaming tables, his name on the building and ... best of all ... a five-year indemnity against LOSING MONEY. Talk about a deal you can't refuse.

Trump is the face of what can only be described as The International Crime Syndicate. He made his fortune doing what was in the 80s one of the most challenging tasks in the world - laundering the hundreds of millions of dollars that were spewing out of the Reagan-North/Nazi/CIA cocaine pipeline through his casinos.

He is represented by Roy Cohn. Cohn was the legal council to Senator Joseph McCarthy throughout the House on Un-American Activities trials. Both made their name in Washington by sabotaging the Malmedy War Crimes trial featuring top members of the Nazi Party & SS (such as Joachim Peiper, Sepp Dietrich etc.). Whilst McCarthy was stabbed in the back by his own team and died embittered and disgraced Cohn went on to become the top man in an international crime syndicate under the title of Permindex which was kicked out of Italy for attempting to rig elections, murder politicians etc. but was also implicated in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Two of Trump's biggest business partners are Russian mobster Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev and arguably the world's biggest arms-deader-cum-Mr. Fixit - Adnan Khashoggi (Trump purchased the Saudi businessman's yacht which at the time was the biggest in the world). Khashoggi has a rap sheet which could fill a book and is arguably best known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair which broke when Catholic aid workers brought a lawsuit against the US government for the murder of activist priests in South America. The subsequent storm revealed the involvement of Oliver North, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in wholesale cocaine trafficking into inner-city ghettos in exchange for financing an illegal war against the populist Nicaraguan government. Meanwhile a side-deal was cut with Iran (at the time an ENEMY of the United States) to supply missiles and intel for their battle with Iraq (at the time an ALLY of the United States).

Iran-Contra prevented Bush from getting a second term and so he cut a deal with one of his young lieutenants - William "Bill" Clinton - to take his place. Both Clintons were heavily involved in the very same cocaine-trafficking pipeline via the Mena airport operation run by hotshot CIA-pilot, Barry Seal.

It's hard to think that ANYONE could be less worthy of the presidency than Hilary Clinton but Donald Trump is a great candidate. A choice of Clinton or Trump can only mean BIG trouble in the very near future.

On the flipside - Trump has effectively destroyed the Republican Party.

As an addendum to the above - I think people should be very cautious before getting themselves wrapped up with activist movements. I mean, on the whole I am in favour of grass roots activism because it really is the only way you are ever likely to get real change.

Whilst politicians and such usually get all the credit for legislative change (on issues such as slavery, the rights of children, Health & Safety in the workplace etc.) the truth is NONE of these decisions were driven by politicians.

They literally had to be FORCED kicking and screaming into action by organised groups of outraged citizens.

HOWEVER, you need to exercise caution when people appear seemingly out of the blue espousing this or that message. Where did these people come from? How did they arrive at their position?

I say this because many people were shocked to discover that the leader of the feminist movement in the United States, Gloria Steinem, who emerged in the sixties advocating a radical manifesto which literally had folk tearing out each other's throats was forced to admit that she was actually rlon the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency!rl

As stated, the best indicator that a particular form of activism is fishy is how it is treated by the media. Campaigners who challenge the status quo are usually starved of air time - not least because they harm the interests of sponsors.

Which is why you should be VERY careful when people such as Julian Assange & Edward Snowden, who from the outset were given front-page headline attention, emerge seemingly out-of-the-blue. Had either attempted to publish information which was as explosive as they claimed my bet is they would have run into some very serious (and potentially injurious) consequences.