".... He should have rank, and intellect, and parliamentary habits, by which to bind him to the service of his country; and he should also have unblemished, unextinguishable, inexhaustible love of country ... as the ruling principle of his life; and it should so rule him that all other things should be made to give way to it.... "
I wish!
If you find one, ask him/her if he has a brother/sister for us.
ReplyDeleteI sure will, e. Better not hold your breath, though!
ReplyDeleteBTW - Trollope is the finest writer of English prose I've ever read with Dickens a close second. Their sentence structures, like any other well executed works of art, are things of beauty . It makes me very happy that my soon-to-be 13 year old granddaughter is beginning to appreciate fine writing and will soon find this out for herself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the quality of Trollope's writing, e. And I can't wait until my granddaughters are old enough to appreciate him. Lucky you if you can share this love of fine writing, does she live close enough for visits or is this the granddaughter who lives in Europe?
ReplyDeleteShe lives in Connecticut about 1,000 miles north of here, but I keep in touch with her comings and goings. The granddaughter who lives in France is 18 now. Hard to believe. We'll see them both this summer, not at the same time unfortunately. Busy schedules that can't seem to be reconciled.
ReplyDeleteHello M
ReplyDeleteWhat would you like to see in PM - Is he/she the one who counts or is it the party they represent and whose policies they have to act on?
e
ReplyDelete1,000 miles is an awfully big separation. I hope you have a wonderful time together in the summer with both your granddaughters.
Cathy
ReplyDeleteThe election campaign has been run on presidential lines this time with all three parties making their leader's performance on camera more important than their policies. I found myself longing for a few statesmen with experience and gravitas to appear. We know there are tough times ahead and most of us want the truth about how the problems will be tackled, not old Party Politics or schoolboy charm.
Trollope describes perfectly the character of the exiting PM. To me a man of great integrity who did not enter a presidential popularity campaign but told it how it is. This Lib/Tory pact sees the main party straying from what they faced the public with in their manifesto. A marriage of convenience with both leaders selling out their integrity for political gain. A sad day for their electorate and one up for the honest broker Mr Brown. Time for me to go back to Greece where at least the politicians are openly inept and corrupt.
ReplyDeleteAs a contemporary and practically a neighbour of GB in my childhood, I have some sympathy with his plight - a basically sincere man who could not cope with leadership of a party worn out and corrupted by power - he let himself be overruled by party (sp?) apparatchiks. A prime example of 'be careful what you wish for'. I'm glad he salvaged a little dignity at the very end.
ReplyDeleteI have always been something of a cynic where politics is concerned, but find myself admiring Clegg for what he has won for his party (and us?) from a losing position and hoping that "sometimes, some things turn out right" - fingers crossed and note to self - read more Trollope!
AliB
Anon
ReplyDeleteYou may well be right about Mr B's integrity - time usually gets these things into perspective - but he was undoubtedly party to the side-lining of the elected members of the Commons, allowing Mandleson and Campbell et al to shape policy. Even in the last days of his tenure, they and not the Parliamentary Labour Party members were involved in the discussions with the LibDems.
I'm not unduly worried about the prospect of the coalition. I hope that power will be restored to our elected representatives; that at least for a few years co-operation in the national interest will replace ya boo party politics; that we won't get any more long and corrupting periods in office for any party.
Ali
ReplyDeleteI've heard from several Scottish friends today, all telling me that Brown was an innocent son of the manse, out of his depth in the corridors of power. I hope he and his family find peace and happiness out of the public glare. I certainly don't expect to see him with a deep tan and enormous bank balance!
Trollope is always worth going back to.