Small Men on the Wrong side of History

My reaction and response to this latest work by Edward West



In this book, the author describes Mr. P J Brennan an aged Irish history master A man who remembered the V1's falling on Stamford Bridge. He had done his national service with the RAF, and worked on a history of the high school he had taught at. He had been researching the school's trip to Berlin in the 1930s and meeting the HJ  It was Mr. Brennan's custom to tell his A-level history class whom in history each student reminded him of Which qualities  with great men and women they shared

Ed is compared to Edward Burke-
 and is upset

Reader, I was St Loyola, founder of the Jesuit's

Yeah, I actually was. Because I went to High school with Ed. The same Mr. Brennan whose A-level history classes I studied in  Said the teenage me, was like Ignatius Loyola the founder of the Jesuits.

(I was quite a strident youth)

The school Ed and I attended was a successful RC high school in Holland Park. I am from a very different background to Ed. I was raised in Acton, in the great Irish lake, that stretched from Notting Hill to the GAA ground in  Ruislip. I had attended a local Catholic school.
I lived a very strict life. I was not allowed to watch various TV programs. Eastenders, The Young ones, Home and Away, Grange Hill. No TV on Sundays.
I went to church every week. I was an altar boy, I am old enough to remember the Church supporting Amnesty International. I remember reading about the murder of a nun by SL in Peru,

 So I remember several of these incidents in this book. While one of my hapless peers wandered off into the Northumbrian night. I was caught short.
 I did not really enjoy high school. I was short and weird. An actual memory I have of Ed West is we were playing Badminton for some reason that was the course selected for PE for that Term, We had rowing, Football, Fencing, Rugby and Swiming as staples and for this term, we were playing Badminton. (I have no hand to eye coordination and weak muscle tone). Ed won the match with crushing ease. I remember Ed being asked about the match and him saying Ruairi's skills are more mental

 I was a good student I rose from the ranks. I got promoted from V to C. The school streamed its sets with CVMS. With C being the top and V the  middle. Honestly, my clearest recollection of the time is always being tired. I suffered terrible insomnia as a teen. This meant I was often late, or I often forgot to put my homework into my bag. I just remember being tired and miserable
One reason why I miserable was because I was scared. As Edward recounts one of our peers was murdered. There was a rise in street crime in London corresponding to my teenage years. This is something I had always suspected. Indeed I asked my Dad once why I went to CVMS rather than a  more local HS, my parents had to spend a large sum of money on travel and uniforms A uniform which went as far as the school bag and diary.  This was a real sacrifice for my parents

Dad answered because you'd have been beaten like a dog every day. Anywhere else.

Dad was right. I bet he wishes he was not ... Because in My brother in 1999, was sitting at the bus stop around the corner of our school. The Bus stop outside the Kensignton Hilton  He was struck in the face by an older teen with a hammer because he did not have any money to give the attacker.
London was to me a violent place. A place where no one cared about you. This has colored my view of politics. I have no time for reforming the criminal classes. I do not want to hug a hoodie.

 It has always colored my views on living in London. I never liked it. I still do not, and that has always colored my politics.  I remember actually getting into an argument with my GCSE English teacher who had come from a local girls school about crime. She accused me of being a fascist

I left my high school behind me. I did not look up school friends on fb. I avoided friends reunited.
I moved on like Garak, I burned the bridges behind me. In case I was being followed.

In the meantime. I attended University in Scotland and the US, and after working as a librarian I met a woman on holiday in Santiago. One aside as with Ed I am from the generation that had to sit through hours of foreign cinema to see a naked lady. Well the BBC showed a series of South American films in the early 1990s. On BBC 2 on Friday nights I since have had a series of Latin American GFs

As I said I moved to Lima Peru. This is one of the world's megacities. I have seen a woman's corpse in the street in Lima. I have seen a murder in the streets of Lima. But my wife's nephews lads of 12 and up did not have the sense of danger that I felt.
The lads I am talking about are several hundred meters away from the suburb of Independencia. Which is one of the most violent places on the planet. 16 murders for 100 0000 people. Independencia recently was the scene of brutal child murder. I have never felt as wary in Lima as I did in London.

Ed makes a great point here. That conservatism is based not on strength but on fear.
I can give you another example from thousands of miles away. My ex-wife is about a decade or younger than me. Her politics is simple. She supports Fujimori. She might be standing for the Peruvian senate when the current crisis (Covid 19 ) is over. Anyway, my wife remembers the internal conflict in Peru. When I say she remembers. One of her neighbors was Rubenesque young lady. The neighbor was known as a local beauty, until one day her family home was invaded and she was ganged raped by SL, and after a botched back street abortion, The poor woman's mind was lost. She wanders the streets often holding a doll.
My ex-wife remembers having to play monopoly in candlelight during the blackouts. Blackouts which are non-uncommon in Peru terrify people to this day.  My wife also remembers queuing for bread and rice. Because of Garcia the former president of Peru had decided to take Peru into the first world by printing money. To her, Fujimori was the man who made the madness stop.

So I have enjoyed Ed's book. There are wonderful history lessons. No one said the first world war would be over by Christmas. The dying words of Julian the Apostate. Jokes about Jean Calvin owning the Papists with a single utterance...

 But for those who were not in Mr Brennan's A-Level class in the 1990s Small Men offers a first-class exploration of the Right as a mindset, as an identity and a choice. What makes right and left different. Why could people not bring themselves to not vote for Corbyn as the Labour party went down to it's worst defeat since before the second world war?
Do our genes and the big five personality traits affect our politics?

One point I must comment on ''is that Ed mentions that libertarians are more likely to be on the Autistic spectrum. Actually, I think there is some truth to that. But it is not the whole truth. I used to know a group of American thinkers, gamers and such. Firstly I think for historic reasons Americans are more literal. Its everything from German blood to Biblical scholarship and a written constitution. Americans actually read dictionary definitions into court. So by British and Irish standards Americans are more precise and legalistic in their words. That said there is a type of Autism called aloof Autism. I think this is a particular trait most likely seen in Libertarianism

But there is also a large spike in ASD in US military families. My wife is from a military/police background. I could make an argument that I am too. Why do I think this is important. Militaries and police, attract strong young men but are in a regimented environment. Uniform on/off duty rules.

I think people with ASD or rather the genes /traits and such would lead to both Libertarianism and or authoritarianism but not the mushy middle I think the US military data points to that

Also, young Greta, who is clearly not a libertarian

The reason I mention this is that I think at the moment We may be selecting for ASD as a culture. The ``Great Sort''  So Greta probably was also going to be telling someone off about something. But because Environmentalism is a high-status faith that is what she chose.

Ed goes on to ask  Why did BBC's tame comedians not make jokes about Obama?   He goes on to describe delight at meeting ``The Prince of Darkness'' - Norman Tebbitt over a fine dinner at a gentleman's club and his desire to make a Simpsons reference. His anger at the Twitter posts of Glinner Oh his unease at speaking with Steve Bannon. He was afraid that Bannon was too much. Ed reinforces the point about fear being an important part of conservatism. Bannon having been replaced by Tucker Carson

I  enjoyed Small Men as a history of my time. Because it is a time I have spent in exile. When Ed was trapped by Diana mourners, I was in a college in North Carolina. Though I note even thousands of miles away our paths were following the same course to a sea.  Interestingly in my first anthropology class, a bearded young man raised his hand and described a tribe of hunter-gatherers as having a rape culture. Said fellow used to drive women to and from dorms and libraries in a golf cart one night, he was got into an argument with a lad from Northern Ireland who turned over the cart with him inside. But yeah, Papal Visit I was in Virginia sir, (PS loved the Ride with Devil reference)  Brexit? I was in Lima. I was actually working in the Ministry of Finance at the time.

I missed all this

But our paths did run in parallel. I do not normally mention this I am an observant catholic. Next to the ministry of finance was Lima cathedral and a few smaller chapels. I used to have a class at 7am and then another at 11 am. There was not enough time to go home. So to escape the damp. I used to go into the churches. My daughter, who was not quite a year old. Was and is my life. So I thought what harm would it do if I say a few prayers for her. My mother and father were having to deal with the fallout of my imploding marriage. As my daughter advanced in days and weeks. She managed to walk but My daughter stayed silent. She has still never spoken. She has been diagnosed with autism.

So I started going to church. It was something I could understand the Spanish were similar to the church Latin I knew. I could stand up and sit down at the right time. I could not eat cebiche and not retch. I  found Peruvians opaque. You would ask them their favorite film and they would tell you Thor 2. (Which was the most recent Marvel movie in the cinemas) I did like the freeness and openness which one could describe family life, in Peru. Being one of 6 I always felt I was being judged describing this in London. Or mentioning a trip to a cousins' wedding In Peru I could simply talk about this. Ed makes a point about how even questions of fertility is now a political question. The larger a family a man has the more likely he is to vote Tory or Republican. This saddens me, as I will not likely have more children. I should have liked to. I feel sorriest for my friends who now north of 40 and trying to start or enlarge their families. It is difficult enough without the plague of politics.

I have digressed I  liked attending Mass on Saturday's in Lima. There would be a religious wedding for a couple which offered some color. It was quite chaotic dogs and birds would wander in. One evening I remember a slightly older lady who I think was quite devout. The ladies of the church knew her well. Anyway, she had finally had met her prince charming. The young priest regaled the congregation with a sermon inspired by a horror of the Mexican revolution. Ed not everyone in the RC church is a red

Like Ed, I sort the community I could never find. I sort the safety and order. If not Bedford falls, I wanted a Mayberry. NC I do not know if I will ever find it. My Bedford falls, is probably a suburb of Arequipa or Oxamapa But I hope to get there one day

But I will leave the reader with one final thought someone once defined conservatism as being on a boat in the middle of the ocean. We do not know where the shore is First we must keep the boat afloat
If we can keep the boat afloat. I think we can rely on the current to take us to Bedford falls,