More questions. ‘How many people do you think you’ve offended?’, W. asks me. ‘How many people have you irritated? Have you angered?’ And then. ‘How many people have tried to sue you?’, because he knows that some have. ‘How many people have tried to run you out of town?’

W. begins again. ‘How many appetites have your spoilt? How many people have you put off their dinner?’ And then, 'What would you say is your most irritating trait? Your most rage-inducing one?' And then, ‘What do you think your clothes say about you? What about your hair? Your shoes? Does the way you dress befit your role as a thinker? As a would-be philosopher?'

Still more questions. ‘Do you think you have a noble face? A dignified bearing? Do you think you have the physiognomy of a thinker? An intelligent face?' And then, 'Do your rolls of fat make you uncomfortable? Do you think obesity gives you gravitas? Presence?' He pauses. 'At what stage would you consider gastric bypass surgery? Have you ever considered liposuction? Do you think you come across as a happy fat man, or as a sad fat man?' And then, 'At what stage will you have your mouth sewn up?'

'Of what are you most guilty?', W. says. 'What is your greatest source of shame? What is your greatest failing? Do you think you’ve failed? Do you think you should be ashamed? Do you have any real sense of guilt?' And then, 'What do you think you add to the world? What do you think you subtract? What is your net worth to existence? Do you think you’ve added to the balance of goodness in the cosmos, or evil? Are you on the side of the angels or the devils?'

‘How do you think you can make amends?', W. says. 'Do you think you can make amends? Reparations? Damages to intellectual reputation? Emotional damage? Digestive damage? How many people have you put off their dinner?’