Theodore Dalrymple sees off the Black Dog

I have never been clinically depressed but on mornings like this I can see the point of being so. Surely the weather can't remain time-warped in mid July all year? Bloody greenhouse gases - yeah right. My initial gloom on arising from my litter is compounded by, one by one, turning the pages of the Herald. Same old, same old. Where can I find the enthusiasm to pen a few words about all this - again. Delays on a decision on the stadium. Yawn. Something about the Mount Albert cycle tracks. Eye the Panadol lustfully. A whole page actually titled 'Climate Change' and containing three articles of the usual guff. I start reading this out of a sense of duty more than anything (you know what lies it is going to peddle before starting) but give up and think of running a hot bath and reaching for the Gillette. O me miserum; and I still have to repair to the fields.

Turn another page with a heavy heart to get to the Comments Page and joy of joys. The dark clouds lift in an instant upon gazing down on an article by Theodore Dalrymple. Sell the kids and buy this morning's Herald. TD is a nom de plume used by a retired english psychiatrist who writes on all sorts of moral, ethical and social issues. He writes in proper English comprising well constructed and grammatically correct sentences. HIs prose is the sort that one rarely sees these days and gives immense pleasure just in the way the words trip into the conciousness. This on a day where I read that TXT SPK is now an acceptable form of answering some exam questions somewhere in Aoteoroa; please tell me it is not true. The fact that Theodore has some enormously sensible reflections on a recent stay in NZ concerning our so called justice sytem is almost, but not quite, secondary to the impact of the way in which it is said. His conclusion that the infamous retrospective legislatoin last week is the first step on a very steep and slippery slope for our country is not a surprise. Unfortunately those at whom such thoughts would be best directed would probably not even bother to read it or would fail to understand it if they did.

What is in the paper after A10? Who cares.

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