Is he mad?

I have been following the trial of Anders Behring Breivik over the last few days, against a background of opposing professional opinions as to his sanity.

Of course, I am not a psychiatrist. And, in one sense it doesn't matter. Either way, he will probably be locked up for the rest of his life, or at least that period during which he will be physically active. In fact, if he is not really insane but deemed so, that will be the worst possible outcome from his perception - and he will have to live with it for a long time. I kind of like that!

But personally I don't think he is insane. Looking at at his behaviour during the trial, at the accounts of his manifesto, his meticulous grooming, the cult of himself he has built up with those ghastly photos in dress uniform or action gear, I think he is just a nasty, narcissistic, attention-seeking man.

As with many of the Nazis, the emphasis on Nordic purity is just a manifestation of his narcissism. He has to see himself as an archetype, so that he can look down on others; those who do not approximate to the archetype. By extension, his avowed Christianity and conservatism reinforce this cult of himself; he is trying to represent himself as the inheritor of a great tradition, based on the cult of the warrior.

In the end, he is just a coward, who could only kill those that had no means of defending themselves. Some of his victims were as young as 14.

I hope those left behind - wither those who survived or the families of the deceased - achieve some measure of closure. But I also hope that Breivik suffers - a lot!