Kamm Kannot Kross!

(That's enough 'kalliteration': Ed)  Yes, sorry, but on the odd occasions when I write about Oliver Kamm I simply can't resist the temptation, cheap humour being a speciality, here at D&N.  However, and with due regard to the very many bloggers whose sites I enjoy, were I to be reduced to just one it would be Oliver Kamm's.  He is such a comfort to a third-rate ignoramus like me because he, himself, is ferociously intelligent and frighteningly well-read and yet, despite all those admirable (and I really do admire them) attributes he still, on an occasional basis, gets things hopelessly wrong and that makes me feel better about myself.

Take his post today, for example.  He begins with a corruscating summary of the prime minister's character and abilities:

This is a feeble, unimaginative, incompetent and intellectually incurious Prime Minister, whose hapless, cynical and dysfunctional government has debased the notion of public service, coarsened public life and forfeited any claim to public respect, . . .

Er, well, yes, can't say I disagree with any of that, in fact, I wish my Eng. Lit. abilities were a tad higher so that I could thunder in that high style.  But . . . he then goes on to finish the sentence with this:

 . . . and I shall be voting for its return to office next Thursday.

My emphasis, of course, and the remainder of his post is devoted to an explanation of what appears to be a lunatic decision because in the course of it he admits that (from his point of view as a liberal progressive Europhile) that a Cameron government would not be a disaster and that it contains within it people not a million miles from his own world view.  Again, whilst admiring some of those who support the LibDems he distrusts their ability to pursue the sort of agenda that he would find amenable.  So, despite the corrosive attack he had just launched on the Labour government he still intends to vote for it and the reasons gradually become clear.  He is not concerned with electing the best, that is, the most competent, government to steer us through the coming economic maelstrom; no, no, like the youthful student activist he once was, he is only concerned with the arcane minutae of internal Labour ideology.  Thus, he sees his vote as a tiny gesture in support of the Milliband tribe versus the Balls gang.  And, of course, the other critical matter which looms so enormously large in Oliver's political agenda, the safeguarding of Tony Blair's reputation:

The worse the Labour defeat, the more likely it is that the wrong person will be blamed: Tony Blair rather than Gordon Brown.

There you have it, folks.  The country can go to the dogs or the Devil, what really counts is the future of the Labour party and the plinth upon which 'St. Tony of Baghdad' stands!  Come on, admit it, when a really, really clever bloke executes a perfect prat fall, it is rather comforting, isn't it?

Comments

[Umbongo]

Was it Orwell who said of the gross stupidity and meretricious nonsense of pre-war (and post-war, apparently) leftism that only an intellectual could agree with it? Kamm is ferociously intelligent . . . and a damn fool, although his demolition of Chomsky is a wonder to behold!

[David Duff]

Yes, that about sums it up, 'Bongers', because whilst I can't agree with much of his liberal/progressive views he is superb in the trenches against the really dangerous enemy to all of us, the totalitarian Left and their partners in crime, the extreme Right. Also, I do enjoy his demolition of the 'Shakespeare wasn't written by Shakespeare' brigade.

[dearieme]

I suspect that "intellectually incurious" is a subtle way of comparing Brown to W. But to object to the intellectually incurious while worshipping St Toni is just absurd - Toni had no intellect to be incurious with.

[David Duff]

Well, 'DM', to be fair, he did once talk about "endogenous growth theory" and my first immediate thought was that he was talking about ladies', er, sensitive parts, but then I thought to myself that can't be right, not him, he must be on about some new gardening compost. Then I found out he was boring on about 'the dismal science' - should have guessed, really!

[dearieme]

"Neo-classical endogenous growth theory" was Brown's catchphrase. Or, as Heseltine pointed out, "It's not Brown's, it's Balls'".

[Tim Newman]

Oliver Kamm is imperfect like any other human being, and 5%-10% of his posts I cannot bring myself to agree with. But his incredible knowledge of politics and modern history, stemming from what appears to be an uncanny gift of being able to recall a relevant passage from one of thousands of authoritative books, makes his blog the first one I read on any given day.

[David Duff]

Sorry, Gentlemen, for the delay in responding to two summaries which are just about spot on, in my opinion.

[H]

I've said it before. Kamm has all the ponderous power of a brachiosaurus, but he picks on easy targets (Noam Chomsky, people who don't think Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare, the poor sap (Neil Clarke?) who tried to sue him for libel, holocaust/Srebrenice deniers etc. etc.). When it comes to the big, difficult arguments, he's pedestrian, as this example shows.

[David Duff]

Yes, 'H', he can be a bit of a 'sif', as Bernard Levin used to call call 'single issue fanatics', although Oliver, even if he does tend to bang on about things rather too often, does at least have several issues about which he begins to foam at the lips. I do think that when it comes to politics it is important to be possessed of an ideology/philosophy (you choose) by which to guide yourself, but the problem with people like Oliver is that he allows the ideology to over-ride everything else. A true Tory, of course (which he is not) would view all ideology as suspect. As usual, I straddle the fence which is both painful and ridiculous - so no change there, then!

I should add that part of the reason I like his blog is the quality of the writing, particularly when he is sticking the knife in - such delicacy, such finesse, such - gloating!