Igenerally tend to view myself as someone with opinions, and I expect that I am regarded as someone who is confident in those opinions.
It’s partly a show of course. I learned early on that the pretence of confidence – albeit latterly tempered with the capacity to see others’ views and change one’s mind – was key to getting respect and having confidence reflected back in the middle class world I was starting to inhabit.
So when, last week, YouGov published its polling on where the public was on the Israel/Gaza conflict, I was briefly caused to reflect on how I would have answered the question on where my “sympathies” lay between Israel and Palestine.
And I feel some shame in admitting that I was, and still am, in the “both sides” camp.
