Lovely readers, I apologize for the wide gaps between writing, I re-pinched a nerve and have had trouble for the past 2 weeks with my right arm and neck…which caused a lesbian emergency for Valentine’s Day with a Sunshine visit. Thank the Goddess for magic blue bills, ice packs and tiger balm.
Your generosity has been boundless when it comes to donating to the Canadian Red Cross and helping the Haiti survivors. Thank you so much.
This post is for Mathieu, who donated $25, and asked that I write about Benjamin Disraeli.
Hmm…first things first…who the bloody hell is Benjamin Disraeli??? Well no worries dearest readers…I did my homework.
Here are the facts:
- He descended from Italian Saphardic Jews.
- He converted to the Anglican church when he was 13.
- He served the British government for 3 decades.
- He was Prime Minister twice.
- He played an instrumental role in creating the modern Conservative party.
- He liked to write novels, mainly romance.
- He was a very good friend of Queen Victoria’s.
Now for the fun stuff:
Knowing Mathieu the way I do, he and I go way back to our University days, I wondered why he would be so interested in this old white dude from the 19th century. I knew he had to have some kind of rebellious edge to him…so I dug a little deeper.
Despite being a politician himself, he wasn’t shy about criticizing politics: “A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.” Well said.
Not edgy enough for you? How about this quote: “Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.”
And just for a bit of irony…”How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.”
However, what really made him edgy was that he had an arch-nemesis, William Evert Gladstone, leader of the Liberal party, and four times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Their rivalry was both political and personal.
Disraeli once said: “The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.”
Gladstone got his revenge after Disraeli’s death by stating: “”As Disraeli lived, so he died — all display, without reality or genuineness.”
I’m all for political correctness in this day and age, but I think it would be hilarious if politicians could take those kinds of pot shots at each other without having to apologize. It won’t happen though; if it did, Steven Harper would prorogue.
Zing! Zing! Bang!
I should probably clarify. This is the reason for my interest in the guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yx8_ScJ4rA