V-2nd - Conclusion - questions

[Michael Bailey]

"...one fine evening in the monf of May" is apparently Herbert's birthday

(and how about that reference to "His little wife would stay to home"
- not something V.'s likely to ever do, until she falls in Love in
1913...)


okay, so Stencil has a nice soak and a sing.  I kind of like the guy.


However, his mission is not worthy of him:
Maijstral has just come from a meeting.

Why in heaven's name would a British diplomat not be invited to such a
meeting?  How can a responsible diplomatic corps allow relations to
degenerate to a point where secret meetings are being held?  Would it
not be more cost-effective to address grievances rather than pay
informers, meet reasonable demands rather than suppress riots?

Something as simple as "A grievance stemming from the strike of 1917;
the newspaper had published a letter condemning the strike, but had
given no equal time for a reply."  How could the country that produced
John Stuart Mill not allow rational public debate on an important
issue?

Or the other legitimate grievance not being addressed that Maijstral mentions:
"With the war the number of Dockyard workers swelled to three times
what it was before.  Now, with Armistice, they're already laying off."
a-and a rumor starting that the British were refusing passports [which
they probably were] to keep workers on the island, against any future
requirement [or perhaps they had other reasons - if so, why weren't
these made public?]

none of this unrest demands covert action to quell, does it?

unless war really is the health of the State and government leadership
can't handle a state of peace?

so they send Stencil to poke around...

what would Proudhon do?  organize worker co-operatives to provide mutual aid

what would Trotsky do?  kidnap some of their families, and make their
relatives shoot the rest of them

what would Roosevelt do?  institute a public works program to upgrade
the infrastructure and make public investments that pay off for years
to come

what would Bush do?  joke about it at the Press Club dinner

what would Obama do?  delegate it to Lieberman or Boehner or Summers?

but the British Foreign Office, by far not the worst empire the world
has seen, sends old Stencil and Demivolt to poke around, without
telling either one the other one's there...










-- 
"The general agreement is that language should be a kind of honey.  I
like it to be a kind of speed." - Michael Moorcock