A guidebook for our times? Ditch Orwell, read Machiavelli 

It’s sometimes a tad vexing to decipher JC Wilcox’s predilection for absurdist theatre, given his misplaced and wholly inappropriate interpretation of Orwell’s “1984” as a harbinger of doom and despondency. In other words, why zombies are cited is quite unfathomable. 
What’s clear to me is that said correspondent should actually read and study the tome, rather than watching the bowdlerised Hollywood version. While he’s about it, a critical study of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” will offer a much more apposite interpretation of these troubled times. 
Dr Frank