A lot of short stories by Frank Moorhouse, notably Conferenceville which perfectly captures the feeling of the Left in the late 70s – a time of confusion and disillusion. I can’t say I miss that time at all. I haven’t read anything recent by Moorhouse except Grand Days and Dark Palace. I wonder whether he has done (or could do) anything to capture the mood of the post-Cold War world.

I’m also reading more of the Folio History of England. I’m currently on the Victorian era. An interesting observation is that English conservatives in the C19th made much of the examples of self-made millionaires etc, pointing to this as evidence that the English system provided opportunity for all to grow rich, as against the dead level of equality prevailing in (you guessed it) the United States.