‘No, thanks,’ she said. ‘I’ll stay here and mingle.’

‘Good,’ said Andrew. ‘If you stand next to me Emily might feel as jealous as I do.’

‘Do you expect me to be charmed by that?’ asked Amy. ‘That you want me to reduce me to a sort of status symbol for you to stand next to in order to manipulate your partner?’

‘Was that not charming?’ he asked. ‘Let me try harder then.’

I left them to it, turning back to see Amy tilting her head and grinning while he spoke to her, as though she was looking forward to challenging him.

*

I borrowed a lighter outside from one of two women who were talking politics.

‘Do they have any idea how much worse it’s going to be for them if it’s a Leave vote?’

‘I know.’

‘All these white men – let’s be honest, all these racists – throwing their toys out of the pram because they can’t face up to the fact that they’ve had their time.’

I thought of Carl. I thought of his brothers and sisters, his mum and dad.

‘Thank you,’ I said, and gave the lighter back to her. I smiled at her and her friend. There was an awkward silence. ‘Would you mind if I asked something?’ I said.

‘Yes?’

‘I wondered whether you thought that white women aren’t also going to vote for Brexit? Black men and women? Asian men and women too?’

Her friend was Asian herself. Indian, mixed-race, maybe. She was tall with dramatic glossy hair, and she had an amused expression hovering on the edge of annoyance. ‘Are you going to vote for Brexit?’ she asked.

‘No. Course not. Oh, look, ignore me – I’m sorry for interrupting.’

‘He thinks we’re unfairly maligning white men,’ said the woman whose lighter I’d borrowed. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’

‘I suppose I think you may as well malign them for their unique faults rather than their shared ones. There are probably enough specific faults to keep you busy.’

‘Sorry. Men suffer terribly at the hands of women assigning imaginary faults to them.’

‘I’m regretting this. I’ll shut up and leave you alone.’

‘No, no, we can address your point. Who are you, anyway?’

‘I’m no one. My name’s Paul.’

‘Sophie.’

‘Rochi.’

‘Let me leave you two alone.’

‘No, come on,’ said Sophie. ‘Do I think women will vote to leave in the same numbers as men? I have no evidence but I don’t think they will. I think we’re more likely to reflect on things than act with some primitive self-assured sense of righteousness. We can’t be as nostalgic about the good old days.’

I thought about that. ‘So you think it’s male arrogance and aggressiveness that will make us more likely to vote to leave?’

‘Male entitlement. Male complacency.’

‘What about the men who don’t have much of a sense of entitlement?’