I have two vague interpretations: firstly that its about illness, i.e Stuart's CFS/ME, and how illness can isolate someone from their friends/family who move on without them.
"as if you're waiting for this letter to arrive/because I'll be here quite a while" and "beyond the bedsit infamy.." is the realisation that this is a lifelong illness and he will never 'catch up' with healthy friends who have moved on. He feels inferior to the "steady boy/man" due to his illness that makes him unstable.
The other (though I have very little to back this up) is about the experience of being politically radicalised and therefore leaving behind friends who haven't adopted that ideology and becoming isolated. "Looking for the enemy" a.k.a. having this new worldview that makes them see old friends as enemies. The "war" is more of an ideological war.
I have two vague interpretations: firstly that its about illness, i.e Stuart's CFS/ME, and how illness can isolate someone from their friends/family who move on without them.
"as if you're waiting for this letter to arrive/because I'll be here quite a while" and "beyond the bedsit infamy.." is the realisation that this is a lifelong illness and he will never 'catch up' with healthy friends who have moved on. He feels inferior to the "steady boy/man" due to his illness that makes him unstable.
The other (though I have very little to back this up) is about the experience of being politically radicalised and therefore leaving behind friends who haven't adopted that ideology and becoming isolated. "Looking for the enemy" a.k.a. having this new worldview that makes them see old friends as enemies. The "war" is more of an ideological war.