The Frivolity of Evil

Dear Stan,

I do not know if you are acquainted with the writings of Theodore Dalrymple, a retired British doctor, who must be one of the best essayists in the English language. He follows in a long line of wonderful doctor writers, such as Checkhov and A J Cronin. His favourite theme is the ongoing cultural decay of British society. As a former doctor in a prison and the grim inner city area of Birmingham, he gives you a view on British society which you don't get from Tony Blair or the tourist brochures. Here is a link to his The Frivolity of Evil at the excellent New York magazine "City Journal", which has a large library of his previous articles.

Sadly, he is an atheist, but his deeply moral perspective is so close to the traditional Catholic approach to evil that I hope he might enter the fold eventually. In view of the highly suspect basic American "right" proclaiming "the pursuit of happiness", he correctly senses that you cannot separate happiness from the virtuous life. If you think his descriptions of the depravity of the British underclass (and some "higher" sections of society) are exaggerated, you don't know the half of it.

In 2005, we in boring, prosperous Reading had a truly disgusting glimpse of the underside of the criminal activity around us when a 16 year old girl was kidnapped by a drug dealing gang, then tortured, sexually abused and murdered in Prospect Park on the west side of town, about 2 miles west of St James and 200 yards from English Martyrs' Church. Even by British standards, it was one of the worst killings in decades. (BBC Story)

In the last three weeks the citizens of boring, prosperous Ipswich, 70 miles north-east of London, have been swamped by hundreds of police and media people chasing the killer(s) of five prostitutes, all heroin addicts. It is a re-run of "Jack the Ripper", but in utterly different economic and moral circumstances. The only remotely interesting thing I ever heard about Ipswich until three weeks ago is that Eric Blair, who loved that region of England, adopted the River Orwell, which flows through the town, as part of his pen name - George Orwell. Now it is on the news 24 hours a day for all the wrong reasons.

Best wishes

Bill