I was considering the book “Defiant Dreams” by Sola Mahfouz and Malaina Kapoor. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers denied Sola even the most basic education. Irrepressibly, she secretly taught herself maths and is now working on quantum computing in the US. Bill Gates is quoted as saying “Seeing the way people like Sola think about the world reinforces my optimism about the future”. Inspirational as it may be, I’m afraid I just can’t say Sola’s journey makes me feel more optimistic. That people should still be having to battle such circumstances in the 21st century does nothing other than reinforce my pessimism. How do stories like this make you feel?