Months of turmoil with demonstrations and rallies happened everywhere. On one occasion, I was in my hometown of Málaga, going somewhere with my widowed mother. We found ourselves involved in the middle of a shooting, and we had to seek refuge in the entrance of an apartment block. People were running in desperation, and there were sirens and screams…I wanted to sneak my head out but my mother grabbed my arm and said not to move.

I moved to New Zealand in 2015, and compared to the other countries I have lived in – Scotland, France and Portugal - I would say it is the fairest society of the four. Indeed, New Zealand regularly makes it into the top positions in rankings of  the most honest and least corrupt countries in the world – usually alongside the Scandinavian nations.

As Filippo came into the living room and registered who he was being called to talk too, he immediately stood up straighter and said hello. He later told me his mind was racing about what he might have done to provoke a visit from the police, this officer, who everyone calls “Jackson”, once scolded him for skateboarding along the road, but nothing he had done recently came to mind. Then from Jackson’s bag, came an envelope which contained…