I have no idea what’s going on, England has just given a man who seems like evil incarnate a mandate to do whatever he wants. Figures seem to show that child poverty is rising; that more and more homeless people are dying; and that the Tory policy of austerity is demonising our most vulnerable. Yet, yesterday, the people of England and Wales voted overwhelmingly to give the Tories a mandate to keep at it. To keep selling off bits of the NHS; to keep marginalising the disabled; to keep hoarding resources for the very rich by stealing them from the very poor. To keep distancing us from our neighbours and friends in Europe. Have I missed some crucial piece of information? Or misunderstood some fundamental point? None of this makes sense to me, I mean, why is more horror what zillions of people want?

I can’t help wondering if I’m evil? Is my wanting a fully functioning welfare system a sign, not of compassion, but of cruel egotism? Is my ideology of an inclusive society of equals, no matter who you are or where you come from, not the way to achieve eudaimonia, but the way to destroy the human race? Have I spent the last fifty plus years living the wrong life?

Questions, questions. I probably sound absurdly melodramatic, but fuck me, I’m totally confused.

Header image: close-up of an interesting section of Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus – Homer’s Odyssey: Turner, taken by me at a recent visit to the National Gallery in London. You can see their image of it here.