I'm going the other way to most of my friends and peer group; the older I get, the more liberal I become. However, this is in no way a binding statement, it ebbs and flows, flexes the way a muscle contracts and expands, depending on the situation, and my sense of natural justice, because it's in this area that my liberality is most tested.

Many wrong actions can be understood; some can even be excused in the specific sense that we know way some one did something, that the root cause was lack of education, or unintentional ignorance, or done in good faith, but then backfired.

The line in the sand - my line in the sand - beyond which people should not trespass, effectively the point where my liberality is replaced in a flash with the overwhelming understanding that punishment is called for and retribution demanded, was breached on Friday by the heinous, inexplicably evil and conceited (I'll explain what I mean by conceited in a sentence or two) Norwegian right wing extremist.

Can this man sleep at nights? Perhaps. There's probably a flush of toxic satisfaction coursing through him. But I don't want that, I don't like the notion this man may be at peace with himself, I want him to be haunted by this, tormented the way Lady Macbeth is, every moment, waking or otherwise, a nightmare.

Conceited? Yet again, the world has been set back and lives lost prematurely, savagely, through the arrogance of someone who feels he knows better. That they can sacrifice someone else for their illogical, paranoid aims. For them, we are but abstractions, nothing more.

How often have we seen this? Been made to suffer? The temerity is unspeakable. No empathy for others, not a shred. No sense, no feeling that others are not just flesh and bone, that they are, we are, each of us, a unique consciousness, and to be respected for that. That no one else can decide our fate, or sacrifice us on their mad altar.

I'd rather this man was pushed out of the police station, the door bolted behind him, and then made to walk into a shocked and bereaved Norwegian nation to face their anger.