Gareth O'Callaghan: My Democrat friend Tom has a lot to be happy about this Thanksgiving

Barely days after America’s midterms and 'people are talking to each other again. It’s like a new beginning'

Just before I sat down to write this column I spoke to Tom. He was out walking in Prospect Park, enjoying the falling leaves and the autumn shades. The mood in Bay Ridge where he lives is buoyant, he told me. 

Just as polling stations were throwing their doors open on America’s east coast for the midterms last Tuesday, a parcel popped through our letterbox. Its contents turned out to be a book called A Short History of Stupidity — a catchy curious title.

There was no note, no return address, except for the USPS postage stamp on the front of the package. As Hemingway once said, there is no friend as loyal as a book.