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Recounting this single day in Caleb life is a tale of disappointment, a man at that point in life when hope is fading, the young have the promise of a bright future held up in front of them – but you get to an age when either the promise has come true or it is time to accept that “this” is as good as it is going to get.
There is a strength in the writing that gives Caleb a deep credibility, it makes his hurts hauntingly real.
That the day in question is Brexit Referendum day adds an edge – avoiding the party political Trezise offers an uncomfortable insight into the outcome of the Referendum.
Remain tried to tell people like Caleb that they had never had it so good, Leave told them that Brexit equalled a better life.
If life was little more than a daily grind to keep your head above water, you didn’t have to be an idiot to vote Leave. You could be well aware that Leave were selling snake oil and yet still vote with them. If the current, bleak, reality was really the best you could hope for, there was nothing really to lose on the risk, however unlikely, that the snake oil might just work.
That same sense of disconnection and hopelessness is common in many places, and it means sensible people will continue to make “bad” political choices – if you live in a dark squalid shed then it is easy for you to become the Turkey that votes for Christmas.
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