We arrived at this position - this George Orwell nightmare in which we all now live - willingly, it seems. That's what I mean by miserable reading.
But look at me, the great judge and critic. What example have I set, even in these last weeks, that's so wonderful? At what stage in this whole sorry saga have I stood up and cried enough! Who have I helped? Harry? Aisha? The Underground? Anyone at all? Not bloody likely. I sit here and write, and turn the pages of Hansard, and I remember the deaths of virtually every single person I came in contact with after that cyclone descended on my resort. And frankly - when I look back over my role in these events - I feel about as useless and as ineffectual as all the other men who have sat in this very chair since 1996, when John Howard and my brother took power and the country was set on this godforsaken path.
—Underground, by Andrew McGahan
