Not everyone

+Not everyone’s holiday snaps will have the same historical significance as these. Here’s a couple (the Porters) standing in front of the Rhone glacier in Switzerland. Turns out this place has been their holiday destination for 25 years. The image shows that while the couple have kept fairly trim over the 15 years between the shots, the glacier has lost an awful lot of weight. In another fifteen years the glacier may not exist at all. Well—don’t worry! ‘Net zero’ has everything under control . . . .    (Independent, 12/8/24)
 
+Recent changes in leadership have prompted thoughts on political dynasties. In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasima has been ousted. She was the latest iteration of her family’s control over government, when said family was not in opposition to their hated opponents the Zia family. Between them they have run Bangladesh since its creation. You would know who was in control because Dhaka International airport’s terminal building would bear their name. In 2008 I visited the Dhaka home of a former Zia president where his bloodstains are preserved on the staircase where he was assassinated. In Thailand we have just witnessed a new prime minister inducted, ‘Thailand's parliament has picked Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of billionaire tycoon and former leader Thaksin, as prime minister.’ (BBC)  India and Pakistan have both had long standing dynasties to contend with. But the phenomenon of political dynasties is not confined to the ‘developing’ world. Wikipedia has a lengthy page devoted to political families (not least in the U.S.A.) who have held powerful positions in government. The list is seemingly endless. Here in Blighty we might celebrate, not so long ago and currently the Foots, the Kinnocks, the Benns and on the other side the Churchills, the Chamberlains and lately, god help us the Johnsons. Is there anything wrong about this? Is there any reason to suppose that the Bush family was not supremely qualified to hold a raft of powerful positions (in the world’s ‘greatest’ democracy)? And now we have a forlorn member of the Kennedy clan seeking the highest office in the U.S. Even Ivanka Trump has been touted as a future candidate. But it’s not just the family name. The inter-relations between top notch political individuals sustains an elite in the political beehive. Most ridiculously this was exposed when Ed Balls interviewed his wife Yvette Cooper on GMTV. And let’s not forget (how can we) that Peter Mandelson was the grandson (on his mother’s side) of Herbert Morrison? I’m not sure what conclusion one should draw, so let’s place our confidence in the son of an anonymous toolmaker shall we?

Full disclosure: I am a relatively distant relative of Sir Robert Bird MP, of custard fame. (He was around back in the 1920s) Surely 'Let them eat custard!' could have been a valiant cry for a long lasting dynasty.

---