Imagine you have some friends at your house for a social gathering. Suddenly a gun-toting criminal bursts in the door with a shotgun, takes aim at one of your chums and opens fire. Your friend is lying on the floor, dead, with a gaping hole in his chest. Shocking and tragic. You dial 111 and shortly afterwards the police arrive.
Here is where it all gets a bit surreal. Imagine if Inspector Plod were to say
“That isn’t a dead body; there’s no dead body here – you’re just trying to make mischief and waste police time“, with threats to arrest everybody for making such mischief. You would be starting to think you’d taken leave of your senses, wouldn’t you?
