Britain is under attack from within by gangs of feral youth who are torching their own neighbourhoods. America is being crushed by a debt mountain of its own making. Spain and Italy are sinking beneath the waves; Greece is on fire; Norway recovering from mass murder. The Arab Spring has been drowned in Syrian blood. In Scotland, teenage mothers are smoking themselves to death; students are being advised to sell their kidneys; house prices are collapsing. Has there ever been a summer of woe like this one? Give us a break guys!
And yes, I know that it sounds simple-minded to be looking on the bright side when there's so much misery around. Hasn't the Prime Minister just make a bit of a fool of himself with his attempts to promote a happiness index? Along with his top adviser, Steve Hilton, who suggested that cloud-bursting technology could be used to make the weather better. No – no one can tell us to be happy, especially when some of us are never happier than when miserable. However, we can – with an effort of will – take stock of our situation and realise that things aren't half as bad as they seem.
The riots have been disturbing and frightening for many people, and three young men have died in tragic circumstances after being mown down by a car. But let's get that in perspective. Under the circumstances, it is astonishing that there weren't far more fatalities. I'm not trying to diminish the tragic loss of life in Birmingham, but in the same week there were hundreds of people killed in road traffic accidents. We criticise the police, rightly, for standing idly by. But did we really want a bloodbath, plastic bullets, broken heads? Some of those who are calling for a crack down by police should remember the appalling race riots that disfigured our cities in the 1980s. I for one would rather live in a society where the police erred on the side of restraint than became like an army of occupation.
