A Lion Is Not A Leader

"A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about." — Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter XVIII

Jeremy Corbyn's campaign for the Labour leadership has made me think about the above passage.

Machiavelli is notorious for his cynical view of politics, as a brutal contest in which victory goes to the most ruthless and crafty. I imagine he would have approved of New Labour; particularly the dark arts of spin and message control, practiced by the likes of Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson. Corbyn makes no secret of his disdain for these methods.

One doesn't have to be a fully paid-up disciple of Mandelson or Machiavelli to recognise that firm, unbending principle is not enough. A successful leader must be able to negotiate, compromise, and evaluate complex details. It is insufficient to be a preacher; one must also be a salesperson, a judge and a diplomat.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-09-04: Belle

Life is full of puzzles.

Photo credit (and jigsaw) belong to my lovely wife.

Size matters: The Labour electorate

There are two philosophies for deciding who gets to choose a party leader. Labour has chosen a confused mixture, which seems likely to have the flaws of both and advantages of neither.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-08-28: Belle

Fluffy cat!

Now that we have said goodbye to Freddie, Belle is much less stressed and returning to her usual confident self.

Magic Sugar Pills

Jeremy Corbyn, frontrunner to become the next leader of the Labour party, claims to believe in the efficacy of magic sugar pills. This not only makes him a bad leader, it makes him a bad socialist.

It has emerged that Corbyn signed a House of Commons motion in 2010 approving the provision of homeopathy on the NHS, and later confirmed his support for it on Twitter.

Other MPs on the list include Tim Farron, now leader of the Liberal Democrats. (I have already expressed serious doubts about Farron's moral fibre.) The Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, has also stated his support for homeopathy. In their disregard for science they join the SNP, with its recent ban on all genetically modified crops in Scotland. With the possible exception of Plaid Cymru, not a single party in Parliament is unequivocally in favour of science. This is alarming and depressing in equal measure.

Medicine: More effective when it contains something other than sugar.

The scientific evidence is very clear: Homeopathy achieves nothing more than the placebo effect. It consists of "medicines" diluted so far that no trace of the supposed active ingredient can remain. It is an industry which sells these products to sick and vulnerable people, some of whom have died after substituting homeopathy for conventional medical care. It consumes resources which could instead be spent on real medicine.

A Prime Minister must decide on matters of life and death. With his support for homeopathy, Corbyn demonstrates a shameful lack of critical thinking, unfit for one who aspires to high office. He might as well believe the UK's energy grid can be replaced by a perpetual motion machine which runs on happy thoughts.

The Hard Case of Fast Freddie

Rehoming Freddie in the style of film noir. What can I say, I was trying to avoid work.

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It was another hard case today. My pal Fast Freddie got in trouble with a dame. It's always the dames. He had to skip town, so he kept his head down in the back seat, while I drove him through the rainy streets to a place where they ask no questions. He can stay there until the heat is off.

Next week he'll be back out in the world, with a new name, far away from the woman who brought him low. He should have known better than to mess with a classy lady like her.

Don't know if I'll ever understand this case, but at least a few beers will help it settle into perspective.

Farewell to Freddie

With the greatest reluctance, we have decided to rehome Freddie.

This is not a decision we took lightly, but it's time to face the facts. Freddie is aggressive towards Belle. His behaviour is not just youthful exuberance, boredom, or fearfulness from being in a new place. He's gotten loose a couple of times in the last week. On both occasions he went straight for Belle, and a fight ensued with fur torn out on both sides.

We've done everything advised to help cats acclimate to each other. We've had very carefully controlled contact between them. Belle is not at all confrontational, and happy to keep her distance. None of it makes any difference to Freddie's behaviour. Carrying on is not fair to Belle, us, our baby son, or even to Freddie himself.

He is a young, healthy cat, very friendly with humans, so I'm sure the Blue Cross will have little difficulty finding a new home for him. It is painful, but we have come to believe it is the responsible thing to do.

The sad and confusing thing is that Freddie is a cuddly, gentle fluffball with human beings. He doesn't even mind being grabbed by our baby son Z (not his real name), who is eight months old and has absolutely no idea of restraint. That is the saddest part for us; Freddie and Z got along so well, and we could see them becoming great friends as Z grew up, but it is not to be. At least Z is too young to really understand what is happening or miss Freddie when he is gone.

As I've written before, cats are not little furry humans. They do not see the world the way we do. You can't reason with them, you can only try to work with their instincts.

Right now, Belle needs some peace and quiet and stability, and in all honesty so do we. At this point we're going to wait at least until next spring before we consider adopting another cat.

We're going to miss Freddie; but we had two months with the most affectionate cat we ever met, and nothing will ever take that away from us. We hope he finds another family soon, and they have a long and happy life together.

If you are interested in adopting Freddie, please enquire with Blue Cross Cambridge (where he is known by the name Steve). He will appear on their website sometime in the next day or so.

Update: On a lighter note, I've retold this story in the style of a noir private eye.

Update 2015-08-27: Freddie is now listed for adoption on the Blue Cross website.

Update 2015-09-05: Freddie's listing has been removed from the website. We hope he has found the loving new home he deserves.