It is no part of my business to discuss what gets politicians into office or debars them from it, but in the case of two noteworthy contenders of our time, J. Enoch Powell and Anthony Wedgwood Benn, the reason for their failure to reach the top is surely obvious. They both look barmy. I understand this as an elastic term which would include Benn's appearance of general dislocation as well as Powell's of more specific derangement...
Benn I have run into only once, early in his career, when by a misunderstanding he arrived on my doorstep expected but not heralded by any name. The door was one of the those with a glass panel affording a preview of the caller. At the first sign of the present arrival the thought flashed into my mind, "Who is this English cunt?" The distinguishing adjective is important. There are Scottish cunts, there are even Welsh cunts, and God knows there are American cunts, but the one in question could have come from nowhere else but this green and pleasant land.
Other guests arrived at the same time and my silent question went unanswered for the moment. I offered drinks. Someone asked for a gin and tonic. I turned to the cunt. "Same for you?" He reacted much as if I had said, "Glass of baby's blood?"...
Benn at any rate gives an impression of physical harmlessness: he would never, you feel, for for your throat. Not so Enoch Powell.
(Kingsley Amis, Memoirs)
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий