Anyone who has read the news or even looked out of the window recently will rightly be thinking "oh my God, how's all this going to end?" But despite the shootings, right-wing flotillas storming the Thames, threats to the structure of the United Kingdom and the rise of populist hatred I have this simple message: don't let fear win over hope.
To which I would add: check out the little fortress I have made of blankets and pillows.
No matter what your perspective, the atmosphere in the UK seems tense and dangerous. But from my perspective - inside a warm little castle of fabric and feathers, wearing my pyjamas - I urge us all to not give up, and to keep striving for a better future.
The dark forces that lap at our national consciousness can only be defeated if we boldly get up every day and fight to make the world a better place. I also have a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in here.
Each of us, as citizens, has a grave responsibility to contribute reason and compassion to the national conversation, in the face of e.g. a sitting MP being senselessly killed and a Muslim-hating demagogue running for president. Get up, go to work, vote, campaign, canvas, petition - it is your solemn duty. I've got my laptop all charged up and I'm about to start watching Orange is the New Black, so I'm all set for entertainment in my hermetically sealed, cosy little citadel of snuggles.
People are being killed for being gay, there's a refugee crisis and the environment is slowly being eroded. Snacks? I'm covered. I've got enough Pringles to last two weeks, four if I don't double stack.
I started building my stronghold of basic physical warmth a few days ago, as the Leave campaign rose in the polls and George Osborne warned of more crippling austerity. But I really stepped up construction around the time democratic legislators started getting killed in the street. That was when I added an atrium of blankets to create what I call the Snooze Lounge.
Again, I implore you - do not give up on the essential human struggle for decency.
Pericles, champion of democracy, faced down the militaristic Spartans by never once retreating from what Athens stood for. As he put it, "the way we live differs from that of our enemies because our city is open to all the world. We have never had any aliens' laws to exclude anyone from finding our welcome or seeking anything here."
A stirring speech, one that could only have been improved if it had been delivered from a turret of quilts.
I'm about to seal the main entrance, made up of the cushions from the sofa. And the secret entrance made out of a nice fleecey rug. Do not lose hope, my country! If everything does collapse into a post-apocalyptic hellscape, I will accept your emissaries asking for refuge in my kingdom of lovely nap times.