The Politicians And The Poets

The far left hate the centre left and the centre left hate the far left much more than either hate the right- or so it sometimes seems. As William Blake wrote, "A man's worst enemies are those/Of his own house and family".

The right is divided too- but less savagely so- probably because their differences are less ideological, less intellectual. As another poet- W.B. Yeats- wrote, voicing his hopes for his baby daughter, "An intellectual hatred is the worst/ So let her think opinions are accursed."

Politicians of the Left- revolutionary and reformist- have almost always let us down- and the poets know why.