I'm Beginning To Think He Has A Chance

We get bored so easily. We may think we crave an easy life- roses round the cottage door and all that- but we don't really. We're the species that set out from the Rift Valley- however many millions years ago it was- and kept on going and kept on going, always hungry to see what lay over the next rise- and if we came to a river we invented boats and if we came to a sea we invented bigger boats- until in the end there wasn't a place on the planet we hadn't settled. We crave the new, we crave adventure- and there's never been a war that most of us didn't gladly plunge into- shouting whatever battle cry came most readily to hand.

And so millions of us are voting for the likes of Donald Trump. It's not the sensible thing to do, not the safe thing, but it's exciting. The man may be ridiculous- and palpably nasty- but at least he's not dull.

Trump's followers may think of themselves as conservatives, but they're not. The human race isn't wired for conservatism, it's wired to take risks- and that's what these conservatives are doing. They're backing the loose cannon, the unsafe pair of hands, the man who seems to love to make enemies. Even though they'd be unlikely to acknowledge it, what they're asking for is trouble.