The above extract is from Love and War in the Apennines by Eric Newby. It describes experiences as a POW after WWII. I idly picked it up, having bumped into the pile in which it was living, and re-read it. As you do.
I was reminded by the extract above of all the people like them that I have known, and their clones that now inhabit our government. I could never understand the apparent public charm of Johnson, people actually seemed to like him, inexplicably. I have known too many people like him back in the day to be suckered; some of whom I liked, some I suppose I might have thought myself in love with, some, most, I despised . They have always drifted towards some sort of leadership regardless of their lack of talent and ambition – the only ambition I ever saw in that cohort was self driven acquisitive ego based usually cruel ambition, such as Johnsons somewhat pathetic need to be PM and the cocks on the table struggle between him and Cameron for supremacy. And reliably enough they generally messed it up and someone with actual skill had to mop them up, usually someone from the “lower orders” or outside of that stable who had been there, done that, and understood the territory. And of course those saviours were derided for their humility and their heritage. The absolute lack of self reflection, the entire entitlement, of those men – it was almost always men – was breathtaking. The women in that stable were, generally, after a husband and saw no problem with ignoring the braying feckless self interest if it brought with it social standing and money, and the education they enjoyed was a means to that end. A generalisation, true, but no less accurate for that. The women who were not in that mould were terrific company and despised the men as much as I did. Happy days.
Those men, a la Johnson, knew no boundaries when it came to their satisfactions; they lied, cheated, networked with the most appalling people some of whom were de facto terrorists or tyrants, made pacts with anyone who “mattered” regardless of integrity. They used people without shame, as shame was not a characteristic on their radar. Why would it be? They could bribe, blackmail, intimidate or simply pay away any barriers or troublesome truths. People of no use to them were non-people.
I said I knew them “back in the day” because mercifully I escaped that demographic, it was a temporary madness. I got myself back, not intact, but salvageable. The struggle to compete, align, keep up, was gone, and I returned to human form. But I had learned more than I would ever find in an education or a social group, I learned what matters. It didn’t all leave me, I still sometimes had to be careful in everyday life not to confuse charm with veracity, but over time and with more experience that also dropped away. And then of course I worked with some charming and deadly men, prisons, mental health, other interesting groups, and recognised where charm leads, or should lead. Habitually, these days, I am by default mistrusting of charm, which has been a healthy state of mind.
We are a nation being groomed by those charming charmless men, by their chums, by their paymasters and handlers. They have sold themselves to the highest bidder and got themselves in hock with the devil because why not, and they will take us with them if we are not careful, militant, and aware. It is already almost too late. People, humans, need to allow themselves to see what matters, to see what doesn’t matter, and to shuck off the shackles of the servitude that those worthless people assume as their due. We are worth better. You are worth better. Charm belongs on a bracelet, not in public life where it deceives and destroys.
And I thoroughly recommend Eric Newbys Love and War in the Apennines. I am happy that I fell over it again…
