A couple of years ago and on a walk I banged on about the hordes of miserable looking couples who sit in total silence simply staring at the floor.
Most are vast in bulk and potential incubators of diabetes, heart conditions, cancers and worse. Some are smoking and look as fit as a diesel dumper truck. No politician dares tell the truth and announce that we cannot go on like this: unless the population goes on a diet and the NHS is radically overhauled, the UK is bound to go bust.
One of my friends reading my bleak prognosis told me that I underestimated how many saints are doing wonderful things quietly and I should be ashamed at my lack of charity.
He is of course quite right. But we still face going bust!
Sod Being Nice
“Isn’t she nice? No one ever said a bad word about her, ever…”
Really! Nice? No criticisms at all?
In common with many ZANE donors, I’m sure, I attend a lot of funerals. At the most recent one, someone said that the deceased was a “very nice man” and that he didn’t have any enemies.
I said nothing. That’s fine as far as it goes, but when facing the last trump, is that reallyhow you’d like to be summed up? Remember, Jesus never said, “Blessed be the “nice”!
Shaking Things Up
Those who have achieved much – or strive to do so – can’t be merely “nice”. In fact, they must surely face active dislike from some quarters. When Maggie Thatcher died, some sad souls proclaimed (disgracefully), “Ding, dong, the witch is dead”. That says more about them than her for she changed Britain substantially for the better and she played a part in ending the Cold War. She wasn’t “nice” – instead, she was magnificent.
Acute dislike and criticism are occupational hazards for anyone who makes waves or dares to shake things up. Perhaps that’s why so many contemporary politicians are relative lightweights. They want to be liked and popular, and most can’t see a parapet without ducking beneath it. Which UK politician is calling out the unemployed millions who would rather draw benefits than work?
The head of Frontex, Dutchman Hans Leijtens – who sounds very “nice” – says, “Nothing I do can stop people crossing the borders”. He doesn’t want to do his job properly for that would involve being “mean”. US President Biden lifted the Donald’s border controls because they were “mean and bad”. US electors are keen to stop illegal immigration, but Kamala Harris wants to be nice and cuddly – and it may cost the Democrats the US election. In whatever way you choose to describe the ghastly Trump, “nice” is not a word that comes to mind. That’s maybe why instead of wearing an orange jumpsuit – to match his face – and living in a Florida nick, the old sod might just win.
That’s why – and this list is at random so please add who you will – Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Ernest Bevin, Margaret Thatcher, Arthur Scargill, Tony Benn, Mary Whitehouse, Peter Tatchell, JK Rowling, Nigel Farage and Douglas Murray are all great people (forget whether you agree with their views or not, just accept they are all mighty consequential). They have stood up for their causes – and possibly failed many times – but in the end they’ve put up with the inevitable abuse and mockery that are an occupational hazard. None of them cared/cares much about being “nice”. Because if you are an achiever, you are bound to accept that people will tell lies about you, and that you may face lawsuits or even threats to life and limb. And I’ve not heard that any of the great achievers needed counselling, either!
This poem, “No Enemies” by Charles Mackay is said to have been on Thatcher’s desk:
You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor.
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight.
So, sod being nice. Where’s the next “cup to dash from perjured lip”?
King of the World
I see Tony Blair is on his way to becoming world king. He’s offering consultancy to all emerging countries, teaching them how to govern efficiently.
His advice should carry a “risk warning” for he was a disastrous British prime minister. With Clinton-style gifts of persuasion and charm, he won elections of course, but we are still paying a high price for his premiership.
Take your pick of his irreversible disasters. He encouraged more young people to go to university instead of training to become plumbers, plasterers and electricians – so now we have semi-educated “graduates” with no jobs. He allowed the buffoon John Prescott to relax the gaming laws resulting in a vast rise in the number of gaming addicts. The UK is now the world centre of gambling. His devolution dreams of a better future for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have morphed into a costly nightmare.
Then, in a fit of apparent absence of mind, he allowed Home Office minister Barbara Roche to reset our immigration rules to far too many people, far too quickly – and guess what? Anyone who objected was deemed to be, you guessed it – “racist”. Today, our attention is being diverted by the “small boat” saga, but this masks the real problem that, legally, the number of immigrants arriving in the UK (every four years) rivals the size of the population of Birmingham. Don’t forget that the genesis of this problem can be traced back to Blair.
And all that before the Iraq war. Good luck indeed to all Blair’s clients.