where do the children play

Somewhere only recently I read that people should have paid less attention to Orwell's 1984 as an indicator of the world to come, and somewhat more to Huxley's Brave New World.

With some exceptions and a lot of extra complications, they were right.

Meanwhile, our broader notions of what constitutes a benign society is continually under siege. Forget about 'polite', I fear that very soon it'll be hard to walk down the street without someone spitting on you.

Oh look, that happens already.

And just to pile it on, here is this week's AA Gill which, apart from a nice treatise on cities, the country, how they relate (or not as the case may be) and what it means for us as a society, is worth it just for the last sentence.

No, read the whole thing first, don't skip straight to the end.

I thought I told you not to.

Have a great week.