From my Substack diary of Monday, 15th. June 2026

A fine summer day in south Devon. I was reflecting earlier on how much I have enjoyed the last week, but I feel guilty about the thoughts that have provided me with a feeling of freedom. It will be over soon as my neighbours are about to return from a week away.

My neighbour spends a fair bit of time in a state of rage, usually about prices or traffic or other people. There is no thought about why things are the way they are and, if blame is mentioned at all the finger is always pointed at someone else and generally in entirely the wrong direction. The ‘understanding’ of the rage-inducing problem is usually, if it is based on anything at all, based entirely on lies and misinformation and a complete absence of acceptance that he is part of the problem, and therefore he cannot be part of the solution. It is always someone else. Gypsies, travellers, transvestites, immigrants are the cause of our problems and should be loaded into a large aircraft and dropped in the sea to drown.

Needless to say, this train of thought causes me great anxiety and I simply do not know how to react or what to say, so I say nothing and stare blankly and slack-jawed at a nearby wall. I have to hope that this is not taken as tacit agreement. I long ago gave up attempting to challenge or explain or provide facts that might help him draw a more reasoned conclusion, even if it is one with which I disagree. He has one foot – and thankfully only one foot – in an alternative reality shaped by malicious people on social media.

He does not browse social media but he does not need to, he gets it all second-hand from people in the pub. These people exist almost entirely in an alternative reality and are at the end of a very long chain of protagonists from all over the world that initiate, spread and amplify false information, false images and calls to action that often involve some form of violence.

I do not like violence. Not at all. I grew up with too much of it when I was a child, and again when I was bullied at school. I know from long experience that there is a very short distance between rage, aggression and violence. In order to avoid violence I avoid rage and aggression. But, and this is the bit that makes me feel very sad, I feel unable to challenge lies and hate when I know I should. I am acutely aware that I am hiding and not helping. I have been free of those thoughts for a week.