"Mr Rose was not the kind of man to accept defeat without retaliation. Rancour with him was no passing mood but a permanent state, to be nursed by memory and increased by reflection." The protagonists of Theodore Dalrymple's new collection of stories are driven to self-destruction or the destruction of others by a variety of motives, from hatred of a spouse to utopianism. The stories are both topical and timeless. Theodore Dalrymple is a retired doctor and psychiatrist who has written many books, including Life at the Bottom, Admirable Evasions and Midnight Maxims.