The following is the latest contribution from solicitor Anthony Rose from his “Conversations with Penfold” series on British and European politics.  Read his earlier contributions here.

Conversations with Penfold: The Waste Land

By Anthony Rose

New Year’s Day can be a wistful time. I saw, as a youngster , the film “The Time Machine ” with Rod Taylor, and found myself then ( and many times since) thinking how marvellous to live before the time of the internal combustion engine, in a slower and more reflective age. I did not, nor do I now, ever consider the benefits of this and other labour saving, world transforming inventions. Only of the calm and slower pace.

It is only a matter of moments before the mind strays to other virtues now lost. For example, of honest politicians – the landed classes who could make decisions for the long term benefit of the country ( and perhaps, in the Victorian mind, of the World) instead of short term decisions, quick fixes, popularity contests which have nothing to do with building, or enhancing, the structure of society or the Citizenry. Disinterested politicians can’t be brought back, of course, but they built for the future.