Posted 6:38 PM by Gene

Earlier today Mr. Stuttaford quoted from a review by Theodore Dalrymple of a new book about The World's Oldest Adolescent, and though the graf he quoted was quite pertinent, the following one was more so -- to a sometimes fantasy kingdom across the Atlantic:

But we cannot blame our leaders entirely for our situation, for two reasons: the first is that we elected them, albeit without much enthusiasm, and second because, though you can take a man to the bank, you can't make him borrow. Improvident government does not by itself make a people improvident, though it may encourage, sanction and even sanctify improvidence. Nowadays, we have representational government not only in the sense that we all elect our representatives to parliament, but in the sense that the faults and shortcomings of our representatives and leaders are our own faults and shortcomings, from sentimentality to imprudence, from improvidence to untruthfulness. Mr Blair, whom the authors believe to be shallow and lacking in seriousness (though not in earnestness, which is quite another thing), did not arrive in Britain from outer space. Mr Blair is us.