And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
“Once in a lifetime”, Talking Heads

The 1981 song rouses with its depiction of urban (and suburban) anomie, how we sleepwalk towards an idealised life. David Byrne delivers its verses as if they’re incantations from the pulpit, searing over a bouncy, aural vertigo of a melody. Who are you? Where are you? How did you get here?

Singaporean voters could be forgiven for feeling the same after yet another seemingly inexplicable carving up of political districts, ahead of the next general election (GE). To understand what might be peak geopolitical absurdity in the six-decade long, SimCity-like machinations of a paranoid ruling party, we need to contemplate the latest bout of gerrymandering not only through the lens of electoral tactics, but also public housing. (Note: Chan Chun Sing, education minister, has said it’s up to the public to decide if there’s gerrymandering in Singapore; in our view the evidence is overwhelming.)

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