Dutton may face difficult questions, but no royal commission can fix cruelty. That’s up to us.

We could say – as I wrote a few weeks ago – there is something cruel in our society. But don’t we need to push beyond that, and ask why, and what can be done? I have lately been thinking of a short story by J.M. Coetzee, called The Dog. In it, a woman is terrorised by a local dog. She asks its owners to be introduced, so the dog might stop treating her as an enemy. They refuse. “It is our road,” one says. “We did not invite you here. You can take another road.” It is a story…