:
My "intellectual journey" then took me to The London School of Economics & Political Science - not to study Economics - but especially to study Comparative Local Government. I was a student of The Department of Government there.
Let me tell you something about this institution. It is situated in the heart of the city, in an area known as Aldwych. The LSE proper is just a few buildings off a pedestrianised street called Houghton Street. There is no "campus." Opposite is Bush House, the headquarters of the BBC. Across that is India House, which used to be the headquarters of the Honourable East India Company, and where now the Indian High Commissioner to Britain sits, giving plenty trouble to all Brits who want visas to come here. He charges them plenty, too.
Now, the LSE's Department of Government is situated on another narrow lane off Houghton Street, in a small, old building called "The King's Chambers." There is an old pub alongside. And right across is "The Olde Curiosity Shoppe."
It surely was nothing but "curiosity" that took me there. But I learnt NOTHING of any substance there. My tutor was a MARXIST! He handed me a book he had authored on "The Asiatic Mode Of Production." I threw it away after reading a few pages.
And as for my professor of local government, George Jones, he taught me NOTHING about Mayors at all, and certainly not anything about The Lord Mayor of the Olde City of London. I studied everything on my own, much later, and I am most grateful to The British Council Library in Nude Elly for providing me all the necessary books. My first book, Antidote: Essays AGAINST The Socialist Indian State, which was published by Macmillan India in the year 2000, which was reprinted thrice in hardcover the same year, and a paperback then followed, acknowledges my debt to The British Council Library.
I have plans to BUY this building, "The Kings Chambers," from the LSE someday soon, and make it my official residence in this wonderful, old, city, breathing with History. I will live there whenever I am in London. I will BUY "The Economist Bookshop" situated alongside - and let Lew Rockwell sell all his good books there. I will also BUY The Sherlock Holmes Pub - and be a beer merchant. In this Ancient Pub, situated next to the Royal Commonwealth Club as well as the Headquarters of Great Scotland Yard, I will peddle Indian Ganja and Charas. So help me, God.
Now, let me tell you something more about this horrible institution, the LSE, where both Hayek as well as Peter Bauer were eminent professors. This is a Socialist Institution, set up by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and all their Fabian Socialist friends. They were truly HORRIBLE people, Sidney as well as his wife Beatrice. Sidney dreamed of UNIVERSAL MUNICIPALISATION. This was Fabianism - named after Fabius, the Cunctator, a Roman General who won over his enemies by avoiding direct combat. The Fabians did not want to take over the whole State; but they wanted municipalities to control everything. And as for Beatrice, she was the daughter of an extremely rich merchant - but she hated her own father, for his wealth and his success, and campaigned for the end of all merchants. Sidney and Beatrice Webb particularly hated the Olde City of London and its Lord Mayor, since this City is the Epicentre of British "John Bull" Capitalism. They condemned what they called the "dull and dreary Aldermanic Bench." Their visions of universal municipalisation were something entirely different: Totalitarian Municipalities.
The Directors of the LSE, throughout its history, have all been assholes. Prominent among them is Lord William Beveridge, who created, in Britain, "The Welfare State." The British National Health Service (NHS) is the world's third largest employer, after the Chinese Red Army and the Indian Railways. And the Brits are "rationed" this universal healthcare - so, if you are over 70 and you need dialysis, you are left to die, and someone younger is given the treatment instead.
In my time, our very own IG Patel was Director, a former Governor of the RBI and also a former Director of IIM-Ahmedabad. It was he who wrote Indira Gandhi's speech justifying the nationalisation of banks. He wrote this because he was too chicken to resign and oppose the move. He was certainly no BR Shenoy, who was both a hero as well as a saint, and wrote a Note of Dissent to Nehru's Second Five-Year Plan. IG Patel has written an article in Meghnad Desai's book on "Global Governance" calling for a stronger IMF. Desai is a Labour Party peer. Both Desai as well as Patel are FARTS. Smelly ones, too. The "strong and silent" type of farts which REAL MEN do not make. REAL MEN issue THUNDEROUS FARTS - and there is NO SMELL at all.
Later Directors of the LSE include a moron called Anthony Giddens, who raved and ranted about a "Third Way." He was a "sociologist." And all sociologists are COMPLETE MORONS. Giddens was a Labour Party man - and almost the ENTIRE FACULTY of the LSE are Labour Party propagandists.
Hayek was not even a Conservative Party propagandist. Although Margaret Thatcher admired his works very much, Hayek wrote "Why I am NOT A Conservative." And as for Peter Bauer, whom Thatcher elevated to the House of Lords, if you read his maiden speech in that august assembly, it sounds like someone who simply hates and detests the British Welfare - and "Nanny" - State.
Now, let me tell you something about Mayors.
The first Mayors of the world came from FRANCE - and we are all in a "little Gaulish village" here in Pondicherry. Our Chief is indeed VITALSTATISTIX - for he is forever counting numbers. And I must be Obelix, for I fell into Getafix's Magic Potion as a child, and therefore have extraordinary physical strength, which I use to carry a HUGE STONE MENHIR around everywhere I go. As I said, I have THRICE visited Vailankanni to drink the Holy Water of Good Health at the Church there.
The first Mayors of the world came from the City of Rouen in France, where the local merchants elected a leader to look after their civic affairs and gave him that title. Some of these merchants from Rouen later settled in the Olde City of London - and that is how this word reached England. All over France, and all over England, there are these friendly, portly, rich men who look after civic affairs. But, of them all, the Lord Mayor of the Olde City of London is the most steeped in History, and has preserved all its Traditions. One of these Ancient Traditions is as follows:
Whenever the King of England visits this Olde City (for he lives in the City of Westminster) the Lord Mayor greets him at the entrance, and there "surrenders the Civic Sword." This is The Pearl Sword - and the King gently touches the hilt in acceptance. It has great meaning, this Ancient Tradition. Think over it - deeply.
It is an Ancient Tradition that the King of England CANNOT march his Army through this Olde City without the express permission of the Lord Mayor.
The Lord Mayor upholds the Civic Sword within this Olde City - and keeps the King of England OUT.
In the Olde Days, it was said that "the people of London want no other King but their Lord Mayor."
The Lord Mayor was never a bully; he never made rules for the people; and he never ever took any salary. Indeed, Lord Mayors lost money by taking on this responsibility, because while they managed civic affairs, they were unable to "mind their own business." Their own businesses suffered. Further, the Lord Mayor had the "civic duty" of astounding the King of England with his Wealth - and had to throw lavish banquets regularly at his own expense, for both the King and his Court, as well as for visiting foreign dignitaries. Many of those who were elected to this office chose to opt out - and they were heavily fined. It is said of Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, that it was "built for those who wanted to be Lord Mayor at the expense of those who did not."
But there have been many legendary Lord Mayors. I told you earlier of John Wilkes. Dick Whittington has gone down in legend - and he is the only man who was Lord Mayor thrice. He donated almost his entire wealth to the City. It was a Lord Mayor of London who built the school in Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare studied. It was the widow of a Lord Mayor who established Radcliffe College in the USSA.
The Olde City of London is all about "civic independence." The "Bobby" of the London Metropolitan Police is NOT allowed within the Olde City. Here, the Lord Mayor has his own police force. This was set up AFTER Robert Peel had established his Bobbies. Till then, there were NO COPS anywhere in London.
Further, the title "LORD" was never given to the Lord Mayor by the King, through any Royal Letters Patent. This title is traditional, too. It was given by the citizenry to their Mayor. He must be always addressed as "My Lord Mayor" - even by his own wife, at least in public.
The Lord Mayor of the Olde City of London is traditionally "second only to the King of England" in the official protocol. This tradition dates back to when Henry V - the "Good Prince Harry" - was setting off to fight the French at Agincourt with all his longbowmen. He had no money, poor Prince Harry - and so pawned off all his jewels with the Lord Mayor. Thus, at the farewell ceremony, this Lord Mayor sat on the immediate right of Henry V. And the rest, as they say, is History. This great institution, this HONEST CIVIC CORPORATION, is over 800 years old, older than the Magna Carta. There has never been ANY SCANDAL in this honest civic corporation. Except in the Goldsmith's Company - where there were those corrupt fuckers who set up the Bank of England, and there were the honest few who opposed them. It is an Ancient Tradition of the Olde City of London's Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths that an annual event is held to "test the coinage." This annual event is still held - but the Lord Mayor does NOT attend. CORRUPTION!
That's my Lesson for the Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment