Eric Fromm was either a psychologist or psychiatrist – I forget which –but he wrote prolifically and well, in books like Fear of Freedom and The Art of Loving.  In another book, he introduced the subject of narcissism with an anecdote.  A woman rang her clinic and said that she needed an urgent appointment that day.  They said that was impossible as they were fully booked.  ‘But I live just five minutes away.’  That was irrelevant at the clinic – but that was the only way she could see the issue – it was the only way she could see the world.  That apparently is part of what it means to be a narcissist.  A couple of days after Black Saturday, I was still in shock.  We knew we could have been wiped out.  I was talking about it with a fashionable silk at a mediation.  After a while, I knew I was talking to a brick wall.  The fires were just not part of her life.  What I said just failed to register.  This was very unsettling.  Not being able to see both sides is fatal in a lawyer.  And it is just a fatal in politicians.  It seems to be at the core of the breakdown in American politics.

Bloopers

The lady who accused Bill Shorten of rape is very bitter that her complaint was never prosecuted.  She is very distressed, to the point where her thinking is adversely affected.  It is very sad.  She says she knows ‘for a fact’ that the complainant against Christian Porter is telling the truth.  Going off the rails in politics is one thing.  Putting someone in jail for a delusion is altogether another thing.