Thinking back on what I wrote yesterday, last night it struck me that I could be being a bit idealistic and arrogant in my politics. I was going on about people contributing to civilisation, and so on. That is to say, I was writing from a particular background, in a particular paradigm – writing as one brought up with a set of middle class values. Thus ii write about ‘bigger pictures’, civilisation’, and so on. I sometimes forget that other people don’t have those values; people to whom big ideas like the future of mankind doesn’t matter as much as earning enough money to put food on the table. I can see their point. The thing is, last night I asked myself: who am I to impose my ideas of a socialist utopia on such people? if it were to be implemented, wouldn’t it mean forcing a certain set of values on others, something which contradicts my belief in liberalism and democracy? Thus the very ideals which give birth to socialism – equality, freedom, liberalism – also mean it can never work. So much for that idea.

Anyway, I think that’s enough of that. In other news, on Sunday both my parents and Charlie and holly are coming to visit, but not at the same time. Should be fun.