Comments on: This Explains British Politics Then http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/ It is all obvious or trivial except... Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:45:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Bob B http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/comment-page-1/#comment-9756 Bob B Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:55:11 +0000 http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/#comment-9756 "ooh, is that an implicit sneer at 'academics'?" In popular English culture, to describe someone or some proposal as "academic" is to be partronising, if not entirely dismissive. Disraeli captured this English perspective rather well: "Read no history, only biography, for that is life without theory." Impatience with anything regarded as "theoretical" runs deep in our national culture, which is rather curious for a nation whose scientists did rather well in collecting Nobel prizes at least up to the early post-war years. I can think of many academic disciplines worse than history. “ooh, is that an implicit sneer at ‘academics’?”

In popular English culture, to describe someone or some proposal as “academic” is to be partronising, if not entirely dismissive.

Disraeli captured this English perspective rather well: “Read no history, only biography, for that is life without theory.” Impatience with anything regarded as “theoretical” runs deep in our national culture, which is rather curious for a nation whose scientists did rather well in collecting Nobel prizes at least up to the early post-war years.

I can think of many academic disciplines worse than history.

]]> By: Gallimaufry http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/comment-page-1/#comment-9755 Gallimaufry Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:53:23 +0000 http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/#comment-9755 After reading the article my already shaky self-confidence in my abillities has dropped. I do not know whether that makes me more or less competent so I will resume sharpening my pencils and laying them out on my desk in length order. That makes me happy. After reading the article my already shaky self-confidence in my abillities has dropped. I do not know whether that makes me more or less competent so I will resume sharpening my pencils and laying them out on my desk in length order. That makes me happy.

]]> By: dearieme http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/comment-page-1/#comment-9751 dearieme Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:18:28 +0000 http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/#comment-9751 "this ranking by academics of 20th century British prime ministers?": ooh, is that an implicit sneer at "academics"? If so, who deserves it more than historians? “this ranking by academics of 20th century British prime ministers?”: ooh, is that an implicit sneer at “academics”? If so, who deserves it more than historians?

]]> By: Bob B http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/comment-page-1/#comment-9707 Bob B Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:00:54 +0000 http://timworstall.com/2008/03/27/this-explains-british-politics-then/#comment-9707 All very plausible but how then should we respond to this ranking by academics of 20th century British prime ministers? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_British_Prime_Ministers Remember, Lloyd George, who is ranked third overall in the league table, thought well of Hitler after meeting him in 1936, judging by the piece he wrote for the Daily Express on 17 November that year: http://www.icons-multimedia.com/ClientsArea/HoH/LIBARC/ARCHIVE/Chapters/Stabiliz/Foreign/LloydGeo.html Mind you, the academics rated Attlee as the best PM, which seems a bit strange with the privatisation of the industries his governments nationalised, and after a Swedish think-tank recently rated the NHS as mediocre by comparison with healthcare systems in other west European countries. All very plausible but how then should we respond to this ranking by academics of 20th century British prime ministers?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_British_Prime_Ministers

Remember, Lloyd George, who is ranked third overall in the league table, thought well of Hitler after meeting him in 1936, judging by the piece he wrote for the Daily Express on 17 November that year:
http://www.icons-multimedia.com/ClientsArea/HoH/LIBARC/ARCHIVE/Chapters/Stabiliz/Foreign/LloydGeo.html

Mind you, the academics rated Attlee as the best PM, which seems a bit strange with the privatisation of the industries his governments nationalised, and after a Swedish think-tank recently rated the NHS as mediocre by comparison with healthcare systems in other west European countries.

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