Disraeli-anecdotes-2

Disraeli Contests
In 1832 Disraeli stood for High Wycombe as a radical. From the portico of the Red Lion he spoke with flourishes and verve for one and a half hours. Winding up his speech to the electorate he declaimed pointing the head of the lion above,” When the poll is declared I shall be there,” and pointing to the tail he continued,”my opponent will be there.” The mob applauded him warmly but the Corporation and burgesses who controlled the election consigned him to the tail.
6.
After many futile attempts to enter the House of Commons Disraeli managed with the active support to enter the House on 1837. On Dec.7 he rose to make his maiden speech, following Daniel O’Connel whose Irish Party gave the Whigs their majority. His elaborate sentences and stylish manner were to the radicals, like red flag waving before a bull. They had not forgotten his attacks on O’connel a few years ago. They laughed uproariously as he began and despite his persistent appeals to gain a hearing he was booed at. Nevertheless he persisted and he was barely audible. He said,”I am not at all surprised at the reception I have experienced. I have begun several things many times, and I have often succeeded at last as they had done before me.”More hubbub. Upto this point he had appeared unruffled and good humored. But now in a voice almost a scream he shot out,”I sit down now, but the time will come when you will hear me.”


7.
His difficulties lay in the fact both Whigs and Tories distrusted him. He was too individualistic to subscribe to any political program. He disliked the Whigs who had substituted a selfish oligarchy for government while the Tories were on a nosedive loosened from traditions, as leaders of the people and supporter of the monarch. To regain this historical position would sum up his own work for the next half a century.
No one in 1830’s could have guessed that it was feasible , still less that the flashy young Jew would be the motive force behind the Tories. In 1834 Lord Melbourne then Home Secretary met Disraeli in one of the parties. Attracted by his conversation he asked what was his aim. “I want to be the Prime Minister,”replied Disraeli gravely. Melbourne with a weary sigh explained the utter impossibility of such an achievement. He ended with,”You must put all these foolish notions out of your head. This won’t do at all.”
Melbourne when towards the close of ’48 just before his death, heard that Disraeli was to be the leader in the Commons he exclaimed,”By God the fellow will do it, yet.”
8.

Viscount Palmerston, war secretary under many prime ministers was a man of great personal charm and exceptional abilities,perhaps the only member of the House whose brain, Disraeli respected. He was a Lothario and his many amatory adventures were no secret. He stood for many years in the way of Disraeli’s ambitions from achieving their fruition. One of Dizzy’s supporters before an election had collected evidence of a furtive love affair publication of which he was certain would discredit his adversary. Disraeli refused.”Palmerston is now seventy. If he could provide evidence of his potency in his electoral address he would sweep the country,” was his reason.
9.
Like many people who were not native but made England home he was fond of England and the English way of life. However his acute intelligence and robust imagination elicited responses which were so different from that of an Englishman. He loved meeting people from various walks of life especially during political meetings and exchange pleasantries. His opponents seldom missed an opportunity of heckling him.
In delivering a speech he would invariably began slowly and quietly.”Speak up! I can’t hear you!”shouted someone at a Newpost Pagnell meeting in Dec,49. Back came the answer,’Truth travels slowly, but it will reach you in time.’
To one heckler, with whom he was on familiar terms, who called out,’Speak quick!’ he replied,”It is very easy for you to speak quick when you only utter stupid monosyllables.” He added,”But when I speak I must measure my words; I have to open your great thick head. What I say is to enlighten you. If I bawled like you, you would leave this place as great a fool as you entered it.”
compiler:benny

Uncertainty Principle

Each generation must deal with the events gone before. How the combined effort of one generation would deal with consequences of causes set in motion already is mind boggling. Each man and woman has his or her own viewpoint and specific goals. They merely respond to their own needs but their cumulative effect is an avalanche that will wipe away the cobwebs of ideologies any politician may represent. How? There is an uncertainty principle at work here.
2.
Consider the present economic woes in the US. The idea that market regulates itself is a premise that many Americans robustly would subscribe to. Correct me if I am wrong: The Republican party ‘ emphasize the role of corporate and personal decision making in fostering economic prosperity. They support the idea of individuals being economically responsible for their own actions and decisions. They favor a free market, policies supporting business, economic liberalism, and fiscal conservatism…’(wikipedia). How would that be translated, I mean, with the uncertainty principle set into the process?
Let me explain.
Traditionally banks gave out home loans to customers and they were directly responsible to the customers as well as to the Central Bank, which saw to the banking practices conformed to the directives. In India as far as I know it still is the practice.
But with time in America banks became intermediaries and many investment banks competed with one another to get a piece of the action, in this case customers. In such a competitive world they must boost margins. And securities firm took very large bets with very little resources of their own. Where was the U.S regulation when dog-ate-dog and risks changed hands in such manner the right hand didn’t know what the left hand did? The traditional banks in the middle were left holding a chain of upstream and downstream links, none the wiser for all the brouhaha of economic activity about them. They didn’t know off balance sheet risks when they routinely scanned them.
GOP abhor controls. Free market for them spells salvation. When the Giants like Merril Lynch, Lehman Brothers bite the dust, the much vaunted Republican spirit would need a bailout plan from Washington. Cumulative effect of economic transaction is an avalanche that wipes out the cobwebs of ideologies of the party. Republican party’s plan for fostering economic prosperity sounds good on paper. But their lack of proper understanding of human motives or this principle makes it far from sound.
benny

Anecdotes-Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli(1804-1881)
1.
In 1831 Disraeli during his visit to Cairo met Mahmet Ali who after a career of corruption and bloodshed made himself a Pasha of Cairo and master of Egypt. He was toying with the idea of parliamentary government asked Disraeli for his comments. The visitor mentioned a few difficulties in the way of Egyptian democracy as he saw it. Mahmet was silent and thoughtful but at the next levee he gave Disraeli the benefit of his meditations.”God is great,”he began,”you are a wise man. Allah Kerim!”and he spoke of having as many parliaments as the King of England himself. “See here,”he showed two lists of names,”here are my parliaments. But I have made up my mind to prevent inconvenience, to elect them myself.”
2.
While engaged in an after dinner smoke at one of the parties, Colonel Weber who had a reputation as a rake said to Disraeli, ”Take care, my good fellow, I lost the most beautiful woman in the world by smoking,”and he added that the custom has prevented more liasons than the dread of a duel or a divorce.
“You have proved that it is a very moral habit,”replied Disraeli between puffs.
3.
He could be extremely cutting when occasion called for it. Once during a party the host after praising a certain wine urged him to drink it.”Well,”said the host,”I have got wine 20 times as good in my cellar.”
“No doubt,: replied Disraeli glancing around the table,”but my dear fellow this is good enough for such ‘canaille’ as you have here today.”

4.
Even when Disraeli was young he lived by the maxim:’To govern men you must either excel them in their accomplishments or despise them.”Dizzy hated every bodily exertion and everything his contemporaries were passionate about. While at Malta he happened to remain in the galley watching English officer at a game of tennis. Ever at pains to play a dandy he picked the ball which flew and stopped by his side. While the player waited for the ball to be thrown back he gingerly picked it up. With exaggerated affectation he asked the one near to him for the ball to be forwarded to the court. His excuse was that he had never thrown a ball in his life.
compiler:benny

A Level Playing Field?

Compare an event to a stone dropped into the still water of human consciousness. Effect is then the ripples produced by it. No man can sort out all events and their consequences to his advantage. You can merely ride with them or get a push that is all. Let me cite an example from the life of Woodrow Wilson.
One characteristic of his character was his certitude that he was right. He was full of idealism and came to the presidency on the belief God put him there.
Wilson fought tooth and nail to keep his country from the World War I. But influx of immigrants from Austria and Hungary and Southern and Eastern Europe were events that had been going on and this had hit the peak when he took office in 1913. He did not wish to upset these ethnic minorities, which had found their home in America. They made it a land of promise.
Then there were other chains of events, which dealt with economy: by 1915 most American banking was tied up with British and French interests. Which course he took is too well known to merit repetition here. Where he wanted to keep neutral he was pitched into the thick of a broil against his will.
Events get in the way and they often spoil the simple or direct link between cause and the effect.
The fact that we haven’t yet sorted out events already in the field makes it a very uneven field. A classic example from modern history we have in the way the US went into Iraq. Who benefited more from that exercise: America or Iran?
benny

One Man's Gain Is...

One man’s Gain Is…©
King Pepin of the kingdom of Blissfully Ignorant was going on a pilgrimage and he was disguised as a miller. Till the party reached Canterbury he was ridiculed and teased mercilessly because he could not move a single pace without breaking wind. When he reached The Red Lion the inn keeper came to meet the party and he ignored all except the miller.
‘Oh sire,’ he said bowing and scraping, “ the royal suite awaits your pleasure.” The pilgrims were astounded and they discreetly made enquiries and found their butt of jokes was none other than a king.
Next morning a varlet who, throughout the journey, had not spared the miller for a moment went up to him and kissed his feet. The king asked as if nothing had happened what was the matter. The silly fellow became bold at the thought he was not recognized. Thereafter he was ever after the king trying to make himself useful. Before the pilgrims returned to their homes the man begged him to take him in his service. “ I can serve you in any capacity, Master”. The king politely refused him.
Because we are connected, one man’s gain somehow sets me back. For this very reason life can never run on the same plane. Advance of others contains subtle shifts in our lives. Either we lead or fall back.
Benny

God Of Small Things

Zeus got up one morning with thundering headache. He had no idea what made him unwell. Hera suggested a change of air. The chief God snorted at it and said, “ The air of Mt. Olympus never disagreed with me. So why should it now?”
In the end he decided to go visiting. The god of fire was already up and bent over the bellows. On seeing the chief god he explained what he was at the moment working on. Striking on the anvil with his hammer he said,“ See these sparks? These have a life of their own.”
Zeus was incredulous. The sparks rearranged themselves to read thus: “We cure headaches.”
Zeus nodded and let the cloud of sparks to cure his headache.
Zeus had but one question. As if the cloud of sparks anticipated the question they wrote before his eyes: ‘ We just became a part of your godhead in order to work the cure.’
The chief god asked the god of the forge, “ Who would have thought these sparks have a life of their own?”
Hephaestus the lame god answered, “ It made me also wonder. The hammer that I wield is so ponderous. Do not tell me this lump of iron picked up my skill to cure you.”
Zeus before departing said, “I don’t say anything except that I am well again.”
benny

Anecdotes

Vespasian, Titus Flavius Sabinus (9-79 AD)
As the emperor lay dying, he stood up suddenly and cried out, “An emperor should die on his feet.”A few minutes later he gasped, “Dear me!I think I am turning into a god!” and he dropped dead.
------

Kalakaua, King of Hawai, from 1874 to 1891 was a colorful monarch who enjoyed his poker game. In one poker game the sugar baron Claus Speckel laid down four aces and claimed the pot. Kalakaua held four kings, which with his royal person, he claimed gave him five kings thereby beating his four aces. He took the money.
----
compiler:benny