Unintentionally entertaining realism

John Shepherd reckons that my idealism will never tally with his realism. I’m sure he is right, especially as his realism seems to include a scenario whereby British parliamentarians are high on drugs, our new and admittedly erratic Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is worse than Donald Trump, and what Britain needs is a military coup. This goes to prove that freedom of expression is not only an essential principle of democracy, it can sometimes also be entertaining.
Mr Shepherd wonders what might happen if we encounter each other in a bar, but he need not be concerned. Hanging around bars is not part of my lifestyle. However, his observation does provide a clue as to how, and where, his original take on British politics might have found its genesis.
The British parliamentary system, drug fuelled or not, isn’t perfect, and the wisdom of the recent Brexit vote is yet to be determined, but we don’t throw people in prison, or parade them in public in leg irons, just for expressing opinions that don’t sit easily with those in power.
Robin Grant
Bangkok