About war, they say, there is nothing new to liquidate. It is as common to think that redistribution of wealth is the mark of Satan, as it is to think that redistribution of one’s assets will mean we keep the house and all the pension benefits. It is the compulsion to watch all Mark Wahlberg’s films in a single sitting, and by equal turns, the voluntary work with the homeless one commits to despite it being the weekend, that may determine whether we allow our debts to cause us any sleeplessness. A man with prior claim on a man’s cow may settle for a pig, or spend an eternity in small claims court and receive nothing except large lawyers’ bills. Two men with prior claim on a man’s cow may wonder how this situation is at all possible in post-industrial Britain, or dream of the day when the practice of pistols at dawn is back on the statute book.