A while ago I wrote, in conjunction, with my friend Les Oman, an album that was our response of shocked confusion to world events. It is called Too Much Of Everything, although it could probably have been called WTF Is Going On Out There?

The trigger for the songwriting happened to be the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. I can’t speak for Les, but like many people I react instinctively and emotionally to people. And for me Trump appeared to manifest the polar opposite of some of the qualities that I admire the most. Qualities like kindness, honesty, humility, and integrity.

Nothing has changed my view on that. But at the same time I’m very aware of our dangerous and increasing tendency to hunker down in the security of our own little tribal villages, in homes where only Local People, the ones who share our own particular point of view, are dwelling.

The aforementioned album, and some of the newsletters that I sent out with songs from the album led, at one point, to me getting a very angry response from an American fan, who up until then had been very kind and positive about my music.

I hate conflict, having been bullied at school. And I think perhaps one of my greatest subconscious motivations in life is to find a way to avoid it.

But we can’t avoid it, or at least we can’t address it adequately, without facing it head on.

All of which is the sort of thing that prompted me to watch this today.

Not a short watch, it’s an interview with someone, a particular kind of someone, who people like me don’t usually have much time for. And the interviewer is very “Marmite” too. But it is interesting, and informative, and it didn’t cause me to run a mile despite my own instinctive politics. There are things in it I agree with. There are also many things which I don’t know enough about to properly comment upon. And there are things that I find inconsistent or contradictory.

I’m not offering it up for any purpose, other than to say, quite simply, that listening to “The Enemy” is really quite an important part of our growth as humans and creative beings.

Those of us who are songwriters, or artists of any kind, should probably be more prepared to grasp that particular nettle if we want to have a voice and make good art.

And now I’ve really put myself in the mood to write a frivolous pop song.