TOWARDS SERENITY
Watching profoundly deaf Rose Ayling-Ellis with
her partner Giovanni winning Strictly, I was struck by her serenity, fortified
of course by her gossamer lightness of foot and classic posture. In
conversation she is naturally and cheerfully outgoing, ignoring her handicaps,
although she dedicated her win to the deaf community. Her serene quality
probably won her the trophy (others were maybe better dancers technically) as
it is an unusual gift in our hectic world and one I believe we should all
emulate.
Giovanni and Rose dance serenely
The world is short of serenity, if you exclude
the Dalai Lama and the resigned inmates of life’s bulging last chance saloons.
Certainly, in public life there is plenty passion, much vociferousness and bile
galore – serenity hardly gets a look in. Close to home, our dynamic Boris,
beset by enemies has to fight off assaults hourly, though many of his wounds
are sadly self-inflicted. I wonder if his past Turkish ancestry attracts him to
sessions of dervish-whirling at no 10, so much more relaxing than hostile press
conferences or Cobra meetings about the perils of the omicron Covid strain.
After such a twirling session, a serene Boris would be ready for valiant
action, which he and the country dearly need.
Boris dreamily
contemplating?
But we are much too passionate nowadays about politics.
I admit to some personal guilt; on occasion I can be vehemently partisan,
usually in the Tory cause, perhaps defending the indefensible. Yet the class-based
venom of Angela Rayner, the weary pomposity of Ian Blackford and the smug
grand-standing of Ed Davey greatly annoy the long-suffering UK electorate. We
would, for example, prefer to be on amicable talking terms with the EU, despite
manifold provocations and perhaps the shock resignation of the excellent, if
combative Brexit Secretary, Lord Frost, gives a chance of promotion to Jacob
Rees-Mogg, an ardent Brexiteer but also a civilized toff who is never impolite
and is an English gentleman down to the tip of his pin-striped trousers. In
truth he is an acquired taste as his opinions are often a throw-back to
Edwardian times, but they were, after all, “the good old days”.
A serene Jacob Rees-Mogg
We do need to inject some serenity into our
universities. Free speech used to be its prized possession, but now a speaker
or academic who expresses an opinion offensive to the Woke is liable to be
“cancelled” and persecuted with the approval of boneless-wonder
Vice-Chancellors and the baying insults of the local rent-a-mob rabble. The
Canadian sage Jordan Peterson suffered nastily from the attentions of the Woke,
mainly at Cambridge, but he has fought back and has been reinstated. He graced The
Spectator with a flattering article on “Why I love Great Britain” – our
strength comes from our traditions of intellectual freedom, not from military
might nor brutish behaviour. May the towers of Oxford dream on, Jeremy Bentham’s
body preside over UCL and Rhodes’ statue smile upon Oriel and the University of
which he was such a generous benefactor.
I have the good fortune to be in Athens for the
festive season, whose intellectual pedigree is unsurpassed. The shades of
Plato, Socrates, Aeschylus et al will smile here at the corruption of
the political classes and at the army of ignorant anti-vaxxers awaiting the
scythe of the covid plague. Our world is full of good and beautiful people and
achievements. Drink deep of this bounty, enjoy the love of family and friends,
have a splendid Christmas and plan and prepare for a stimulating 2022.
Acquire serenity!
SMD
19.12.21
Text copyright © Sidney Donald
2021
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