John, as you would, I’m sure, agree, “anti-philosophical Englishman” is a fine example of tautology. All that musing about the purpose of existence is, as most Brits know, completely pointless (there is none) – the sort of thing best left to the sort of seedy Continentals who like to hang around dodgy cafes, drinking little cups of coffee, chain-smoking unfiltered cigarettes (although that, of course, is fine) and talking polysyllabic nonsense. None of it is necessary. All you need is Mill for optimism, Hobbes for pessimism and Locke for commonsense and then you are done.