Espousers of Shangri-La feel a sense of disconnection and alienation from the society in which they live. This may stem from a number of possible roots, the primary of which is worries about security, notably amongst Settlers.

These people feel, first and foremost, that society has lost its way – become too lax about morality and law enforcement. They have a strong sense that these days criminals just “get away with it”.

Even when they are caught, tried and sentenced, it seems that criminals get off with unjustifiably short prison terms, community service or even simply a fine – a slap on the wrist and being told “Bad boy! Don’t let me catch you doing that again!”

This is especially true about “young” offenders. All they seem to get is sent on a holiday to “improve their self-esteem” – what nonsense! Shangri-La espousers really, really wish that they had some power to “hit back”.

They see the biggest threat to social order coming from “youths”. In some cases this perceived threat is from gangs but mostly it is just from groups of youths “hanging out” in supermarket car parks, town centres, parks and so on.

The threat is perceived to be mainly male but, increasingly, there is concern about feral females. Either way, Shangri-La espousers feel uncomfortable walking around even in their own neighbourhoods, especially at night.

There’s a very strong sense that the real root of the problem lies with liberal attitudes to child-raising. To these people, “spare the rod and spoil the child” is a simple universal truth. What’s obviously needed is far stricter discipline, in the home and at school – especially at school - in the child’s best interest.

For Shangri-La espousers, it feels like nobody but them cares. Public Servants seem more concerned about being sued on health and safety grounds than they are about doing something to mend society’s deteriorating moral standards. They’re seen as a bunch of “Jobsworths”. It’s like everything else, make it quick, cheap and dirty then sell it for a rip-off price and deny any responsibility or just pass the buck when it all goes wrong.

For some Shangri-La espousers, the “ugliness” of society is almost literally that – that people today just don’t seem to value real “beauty”; not the less than skin deep beauty of celebrity and fashion but the profound beauty to be found in the natural world. They marvel in the beauty of simplicity and of the everyday. To them, society has become bland, colourless, noisy and shrill.

Then there is the concern raised by the threat posed to all humanity, not just the parochial society, even if that be a nation – the stress we, as a species, are putting on the natural environment. Politicians and “world leaders” seem not to care, presumably because they think that it won’t affect them personally – after all, there are billions of poor people who can be relied upon to take the brunt of the damage wrought.

Clearly, there is a sense of nostalgia attached to the worry about all these threats. Just for sanity's sake, people often feel that there was some sort of Golden Age sometime in the past. A time when “we could leave our doors unlocked”; when “a copper could give a kid a clip round the ear-hole and send him home to Mum”; when “a man’s word was his bond”. Life was so much better then. There was always new stuff to learn, and innocent fun and excitement to be had. You could rely on people around you –and those in “authority” – to offer a helping hand in time of need.