There are too many examples of would be artists becoming psychotic leaders.  Marx wanted to be a poet, so did Robespierre and Stalin. Mussolini was a failed actor. And who needs to mention that failed watercolorist from Vienna (see above).

So, as sorealists, we really object to the confusion between politics and the arts.

Walter Benjamin wanted people to stop 'aesthetisizing politics' and after the interventions of the likes of Harold Pinter and Peter  Handke in recent years... he's got a point. Fantasy and politics made bad bed fellows....

Yitzak Rabin and Mikhail Gorbachev are classic modern examples of politicians who eschewed certainty, changed their minds, and were willing to adapt their policies to different circumstances.

But such politicians are only human and would probably have big failings too. They might be like Bill Clinton, only they would inhale - like Barack Obama

Are there other figures from the world of politics and international affairs who you would nominate?

Add your own page or blog to this book, and start being pretentious or contentious

This would obviously start with an avoidance and refutation of the still persistent religious myths that permeate our politics, narratives of redemption, struggle, small vanguards and elites, final apocalyptic battles and raptures. These structures can be found in left wing and ecological thought, as well as the more obvious places.

But a sorealist politician would also combat the other kinds of dreams that poison public life - whether that's the extreme form of the American dream of happiness (a constant cause of unhappiness) with a sense of possibility.

We can't abandon forever all our utopian dreams. That would be unrealistic. A sorealist politician would also understand the importance of HOPE.