'Loose Talk'
By Benjamin Benedict

Prime Ministers Questions

Which of the world’s so-called ‘democracies’ have a live, weekly  TV show that features a shouting match between the Leader of the Government and the Leader of the Opposition, dramatically  staged in front of opposing party members, who sit on padded benches facing each other?

My friends, only one major Nation can so boast and on the back of this televised entertainment they can also boast that for better or worse, they most closely define what may be called a ‘true’ Democracy.

That Nation is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reluctant participant in the European political experience, and keen supporter of both NATO and the Commonwealth of Nations, its Queen being the head of the latter organisation which is now showing significant signs of growth. The U K  is in fact not only a democracy, it is a democratic monarchy which shows no signs of kicking the Royals into touch or for that matter abandoning the cornucopia of titles and royal honours which are distributed annually.

You could call this schizophrenic, I call it well balanced and feel sorry for those who cannot at least dream of being a ‘Lord’, a ‘Lady’, or a ‘Sir’. Ummm, Sir Benjamin Benedict knighted for his services to what you would loosely call ‘literature’ – in your dreams pathetic scribbler! Ahh, but I can dream and that’s the difference. I could also of course dream of saying ‘no’ to the offer which would afford another kind of satisfaction, but in my case that’s unlikely.

Over the last forty years, a habit of speech has embedded itself between me and one of my closest friends. We call each other ‘Squire’. People who don’t know us find this disconcerting. We, on the other hand couldn’t stop it if we tried – and after all it describes a status emanating from the word ‘Esquire’. Come to think of it, we could both be knighted for bringing the term back into usage, as it so richly deserves.

Members of Parliament are called ‘The Honourable’ and often they are anything but. However, the point is that the title describes what they should be, and this is surely what all such expressions are about. Most of us will try to live up to society’s belief in what we are, but there is always a Falstaff to be found somewhere in the mix.

I personally cannot see the point of trying to reduce everyone to the same common denominator, and prefer a system that differentiates between us, not in a monetary sense but in a meritorious sense.

This article may of course come to the attention of one of the truly ‘Honourable’ Members of Parliament who at the next session of Prime Minister Questions could ask why Benjamin Benedict, a writer of such subtle insight has not been knighted for his services to humanity long ago, and could the Prime Minister recommend his inclusion in the Queens next Honours List?

In your dreams, hopeless hack! But it is a dream that we British are entitled to. Show us a dragon, and for what we call a ‘gong’ we shall slay it. 

 

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