I am afraid I have never taken much interest in
politics, but even the most incurious, the least factious individual is bound in these days to speculate from time to time about his rulers. One of the things that strikes me about the present Government (seen, of course, from a very long way off) is that they seem to be much more pleased with themselves, not only collectively but individually, than the other Governments which, admittedly in a very dim and imprecise way, I can remember. If you read what they say about themselves and what is written about them by their supporters you would infer that they were all, every single one of them, men of quite exceptional ability, on the very top of their form. I hope that this is the case. But surely in former days there were always, in every Cabinet, two or three prize apes whom everybody knew to be prize apes, and whom even newspapers supporting the Government criti- cised? I suppose the answer is that no booby, nor any person other- wise unsuitable, would ever get office in a Socialist administration. But it is not an answer that I believe, or even want to believe ; for, frankly, the chill of distrust comes over me when I read about these paragons. I miss the scapegoats and Aunt Sallies with whom previous Governments seemed quite ready to provide me—" Of course, we'll never get anywhere until they kick old X. out "—and I think I would have more confidence in our rulers if they soft- pedalled the self-praise a bit.
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