(This is a reworked version of an earlier article)

The classic test of whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist is to look at a glass of water, and say whether you think it’s half full or half empty. But what do you call yourself when your natural reaction is to want to pour out the water, which is probably poisoned anyway, and hurl the glass against the wall?

When you survey the state of the world we’ve brought upon ourselves, it’s difficult to conceive of any other reaction. Switch on the news and what do you see? Iraq spinning out of control, and now mired in anarchy, Palestine bruised and beaten, while Iran is now under threat from a bunch of imperialist psychopaths disguised as world leaders, driven by a military-industrial complex gone berserk, and aided and abetted as ever by the supine international media. And all this against the backdrop of a planet slowly heating up around us, destined one day to throw its hands in the air and eject completely this impertinent species called the human race which has so abused its hospitality.

Depressed by this? Don’t change channels yet; don’t turn the page. There’s more: I’m just getting started. Indeed why look outward to the wider world when there is plenty to take in on our own doorstep?

Read more here.