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Officialdom discouraged these, but it was too much to ask that people would not pass on stories that, even if implausible, were not beyond the bounds of possibility.
But such things should not rob us of our humanity or of the mercy and forgiveness that is our due. I don’t want to know what unhappiness you are running away from. You are deserving of mercy, as much as I am, as much as any of our unfortunate young women are. You may stay with us until the end of this dreadful war. Your secret is safe.’
It was bound to happen, and he would simply have to reconcile himself to it. Sooner or later, the place where you are destined to be will come and claim you. It always does. You may think you’ve escaped, but you never have: like gravity, such places pull you back, assert their control of your life. You won’t get away from us that easily, say these places. We are your place; this is where you are destined to die, however long your life may prove to be. Don’t fight it; submit, and in
But times were different then. There were characters, you see, and there wasn’t the same expectation of conformity. We think that they were stuffy. We think that we are free of all that. But the truth of the matter is that we are just as conformist as they were. We delude ourselves if we think we are free – all that has happened is that the nature of the constraints has changed – the diktats are different, and issued by a different set of diktat-issuers. We have a hegemony of attitudes just as they did in the 1920s and 30s.
But that, he supposed, was a concomitant of being born on the cusp of great changes: it was understandable that one might suddenly seem out of touch with the world that was emerging about one.
‘But that’s what they’re all like, Prime Minister. They don’t mince their words. They don’t know how to. They think aloud. They don’t mean to offend; it’s just that they don’t seem to understand tact, or subtlety, or whatever you like to call it. They’re pretty basic, when all is said and done.’
‘Man can change, though, once the material conditions that determine his nature are changed sufficiently.’
Stalin never got beyond the level of the predictable, he thought. For all his wiliness, his cunning, there was no moral imagination.
Of course, if she broached the subject with him, if she pointed out that his drinking was less acceptable in their new surroundings, then he would simply respond that America was strait-laced and hypocritical and that people didn’t drink so much because they simply didn’t have the imagination to do that – ridiculous, offensive arguments.
Donald was one of the most efficient and hard-working first secretaries in the entire British Diplomatic Service. He had a great talent for condensing complicated documents and explaining them succinctly to the members of the many committees he served. His position papers made complex international negotiations intelligible to participants who might otherwise become hopelessly confused. His advice was always pertinent and time-saving. His superiors were full of praise for an official who did everything asked of him, and whose only flaws were his drinking and tendency to be dismissive of those
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Spirit, perhaps, if you were one of the many these days to whom it did not come easily to use the name of the Deity.
‘Sometimes I wonder where contemporary proponents of human rights think their values came from.
If there was one thing that humanity had always been good at, it was finding a reason to distrust or dislike others. The seed of that characteristic was there at the very beginning, implanted deep in our nature, only awaiting the slightest encouragement to flourish. Them and us began in children’s games, and stayed with us until our last breath. Except, he thought; except when we cultivated a love of our fellow man, and that took such effort.
Under the Guise of Spring,
Do you want to spend your life in the shadows? Now there are shadows, and it is the lot of some to work within them or, indeed, on their periphery, in their liminal territory. But if you are one who prefers to be in the clear light of day, then perhaps it is best not to dwell in penumbral regions. That’s all I am saying – no more than that.’ He
