The main function of my blog 'Carbuncle' is simply to help me to keep sane in an increasingly insane world, mainly by ranting about whatever forms of madness, hypocrisy or injustice in society and politics happen to annoy me most at any particular time. Broadly socialist in orientation, the title is an oblique reference to the unpleasant skin condition that Karl Marx suffered from for much of his adult life, and which it has often been humorously suggested may have been a factor in the notoriously short temper he displayed to his enemies and in his tireless rage against the bourgeoisie. It's literal meaning is a pus-filled boil, needing to be drained or lanced.