'Today' on Scout Scar

Fresh snow on the fells to the north of Scout Scar

Fresh snow gleams on the distant fells.  Such beauty should dispel the rubbish thoughts  that dominate. Today, I could not shake off 'The Today Programme.' Where did the money come from to refurbish a Downing Street flat? Parties whilst the rest of us are in lock-down. Pets taking precedence over refugees in  flights from Afghanistan.  When the law doesn’t suit, ride over it rough-shod.
​Is this the stuff of Government, in a pandemic?

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Up on Scout Scar, I  found myself haunted  by Shakespeare’s greatest comic character.  Sir John Falstaff is a hangover from Medieval plays, the Vice.  Vice can be attractive, that’s the danger.  The flamboyant Falstaff is lively company, we laugh with him and at him. He can be eloquent,  inventive and witty, can blag his way through a pack of lies. For Prince Hal, Falstaff and The Boar's Head Tavern is an education,  but he is not deceived. 

 King Henry I v part i.  Act ii scene iv
      Prince Hal                   These lies are like their father that begets them,
                                            Gross as a mountain, open, palpable .

                                          Prince Hal laughs at Falstaff who thinks to out-face the whopping lies he's told.
 
Act iv sc 11   Before the battle of Shrewsbury. 
             Falstaff             I have misused the King's press damnably
                                         I have got in exchange of one hundred and fifty soldiers
                                          Three hundred and odd pounds 
                                      --------------------
        Prince Hal.            Whose fellows are these that come after?
          Falstaff                 Mine Hal, mine.
           Prince Hal            I did never see such pitiful rascals
           Falstaff                  Food for powder, food for powder, they’ll fill a pit as well as better.
                                           (couldn’t care less about the fate of his press-ganged soldiers)  
                                          -----------

          Falstaff                I have led my ragamuffins where they are peppered
                                   There’s not three of my hundred and fifty left alive
 
                                   (He means he’s thrown his  men under a bus,)
 Falstaff might be good for a laugh but he’s amoral, treacherous. Prince Hall knows him through and through.  And when the Prince takes on the responsibilities of kingship there’s no place for a man as feckless as Falstaff.

            Prince Hal        That abominable MISLEADER of youth Falstaff 

What qualities do we expect in our leaders?   It's a theme Shakespeare explores in his English history plays.  What are the responsibilities of kingship?  In our times power lies with Government, with our Prime Minister.  But if he's unfit to lead what are the consequences for the state?  We need a leader of truth and integrity, not a MISLEADER.