Confucius & A Tale Of Two Cities

1859 Chapman & Hall

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.”

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities


Confucius taught that one must look after oneself, then family, then nation before one can rule the world.

So perhaps our leaders and MPs are just following ancient Confucius wisdom.

In The Telegraph:

“Mr Brown used his expenses to pay his brother Andrew Brown £6,577 for cleaning work at his Westminster flat between 2004 and 2006.”

Also:

“An inquiry was launched into Miss Smith's expenses claims after it emerged that she had designated her family home in the West Midlands as her second home for expenses purposes, while listing a room at her sister's London house, where she lodged, as her main home.”

For once London and Paris may not be all that different:

The Independent:

“The possible – or even probable – appointment of a 23-year-old Paris law student to run Europe's largest office development has generated a storm of protest and mockery in France, including an 8,000-name petition on the internet. According to his critics, the student has only one qualification to become the next political boss of the lucrative, prestigious but floundering La Défense business district west of the city centre. The student's name is Jean Sarkozy, the son of the President of the Republic.”

That which has come to be, that is what will come to be;

and that which has been done, that is what will be done; and so there is

nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

Reischauer Lecture on Confucius: Family, Nation, and the World

Oh dear: Blue Peter