So yet again the government or whatever have changed the time. They change the time twice a year to save daylight. They think we are stupid. Changing the time doesn’t save daylight: daylight is in the gift of the arc of the horizon, and we cannot increase or decrease it, no matter how many times we correct our watches, no matter how hard we try.

They treat us like budgerigars.

They know that by changing the time they are throwing a large dark blanket over our cage to make us go to bed, and then whipping it off in the morning to make us wake up.

They know that we are unable to make these decisions for ourselves and that it is easier to look at a clock than to look out of the window.

They know that society is complex but the individuals that make up that society are simple, and that we need them to tell us when to leave the house, when to join the queue, when to pause as the arrow hovers over the button before finally, yes, clicking Shut Down.

They know these things: they have our number.

Some facts about the birds

• The birds do not have appointments.
• The birds do not use public transport.
• The birds do not have to make sure the report is on my desk by 9 a.m.
• The birds do not live in a cage.
• The birds sit outside my window at the dawn of each new day and scream their heads off like this: “Look at me, look at me, look at me”.