Spite covers psychology, economics, genetics, literature and current affairs to examine why humans inflict self-harm just to get one over on someone else.

Why do we secretly want our friends to fail? Lots of irresistible stories about toxic behaviour in supermarkets and over the privet hedge, ramping up to incendiary divorces, vicious business practices, backbiting politics, scorched earth terrorism, Trump, and Brexit. Was Trump elected because people voted out of spite for Hillary Clinton?

There's a hopeful message too – the upside of our dark side. Spite can drive us forward, and Simon provides a fresh prospective on the word by showing the evolutionary benefits of spite as a social leveller, an enabler of defiance, a wellspring of freedom and a vital weapon in our everyday armoury.