The death of Bikram Lama – Sydney’s ‘birdman’ of St James tunnel – has shaken me. What is happening to our city?

‘Could it really happen here in Sydney, that a man could lie dead, in his sleeping bag, on the ground, for six days, near St James station, as thousands of commuters streamed past his decomposing body?’ Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

In the daily horror of this year’s news cycle, it’s difficult to be shocked.

But all yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about Bikram Lama, with both shame and sadness.