Hearts of darkness: Tony D’Souza’s Thought for the Week

‘Ethno-supremacy is as alive today as it ever was.’

by Tony D’Souza 5th September 2025

‘Mistah Kurtz – he dead’ – The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad.

It was the smell I remember most. That night, as we lay anchored on an island in the bend of the great river, I remember the unmistakeable whiff of dense tropical jungle, a pungent smell of mud, of foetid standing water and damp, decaying vegetation.