Yesterday we covered a survey which suggests that the Liberal Democrats are strongly romantic. Today, Lord Bonkers gives the LDV readership the benefit of his insight on this subject…
We are great romantics here in Rutland. This morning I watched swains, as tradition demands, gather the first snowdrops of the year to take to their loves. (This afternoon I phoned the Oakham Royal Infirmary and Matron is confident that no toes will be lost to frostbite.)
I was pleased to see from this survey that we Liberal Democrats are great romantics too. If one thinks about it, however, it should not be such a surprise. For while the other two parties exist to protect the interests of their particular class, ours exists to bring about a better world.
A world with proportional representation (and not that beastly “Alternative Vote” that Clegg was so keen on last year), site-value rating, fair taxation, co-operation between nations and in the workplace, test cricket on the BBC, proper restaurant cars on trains, sound money, prosperity for poor nations and the Honeysuckle Weeks in the Cabinet.
It makes the other parties’ programmes look a little thin, doesn’t it?
I note too that women who do not read books are not romantic – the First Lady Bonkers was always happier with a twelve-bore than Aldous Huxley’s latest – and neither are atheists.
That may explain why I have always found Richard Dawkins Rather Hard Work.
* Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West between 1906 and 1910. Since 1990 his diaries have appeared in Liberator magazine, giving a unique perspective on British politics. Lord Bonkers' Diary is dictated to Jonathan Calder.
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3 Comments
The best place to read Lord Bonkers’ latest views these days is on my blog.
What an useful link, my Lord.
Over in another place ( http://downatthirdman.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/john-arlott-trying-to-take-it-in-through-the-eyes-and-get-it-out-through-the-lips/#comment-1207) a comment to a piece on the Liberal, John Arlott, drew attention to this thought from F Scott Fitzgerald:
“a sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won’t.”
If this was the sense of the word, then, surely the survey was accurate.
I hate to be a pedant but women who don’t read books were listed as romantic, along with lawyers, Christians, and us. Perhaps First Lady Bonkers was a secret Conservative voter; though given what this survey implies about male Conservatives unhappy with their wives, one can only hope that voting for one is the worst thing she did behind your back.