Mary Kenny
“We’re all free to hold any political opinion that we like, and to express that opinion”, writes Mary Kenny
A young relation of mine in Germany was in touch with me last week saying how much everyone, it seems, in that country really, really dislikes Donald Trump. Although he is no fan of Mr T, the constant disparagement is all getting a bit repetitious.
Everyone this side of the Atlantic seems to dislike and disparage President Trump, too: Irish women, according to a poll published last weekend, are particularly keen to keep the new American president out of the country.
Two-thirds of women surveyed in a Behaviour & Attitudes poll said that the Taoiseach should not invite Trump to Ireland when he visits Washington next month. Most men are also opposed to an invitation, although not as emphatically.
But look at it this way: isn’t President Trump giving many people a gratifying opportunity to indulge in a superior moral attitude – an attitude that was once called ‘holier than thou’, and is now described as ‘virtue signalling’? Oh see what a high-minded, upright person I am – I so disapprove of this vulgarian with his coarse attitudes to women and his hostility towards Muslims and Mexicans! I am so much better than he!
Come to think of it there’s a verse in the New Testament about that: the Pharisee who is so proud of being so much better than others, and places himself near the altar in consequence.
We’re all free to hold any political opinion that we like, and to express that opinion, but would it be more genuinely Christian to say that, honestly, we’re all sinners, and even if we dislike Mr Trump as a public figure, we’re still not entitled to feel so morally superior to him as a person.
Moreover, if the Trump regime starts seriously withdrawing American investment from Ireland, there might be some regrets for not having shown a little more Christian charity towards the elected leader of the United States.
Not such a shared tradition of Christian values
In London, the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, is coming under criticism for having announced in the chamber that President Trump would not be a welcome guest at Westminster. Critics feel that the Speaker (Chair) should not breach political neutrality in his statements.
It is now recalled, too, that John Bercow gave a somewhat divisive welcome to Pope Benedict in 2010, choosing to underline the differences between the Vatican and the British Parliament, saying: “As is well known, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, over decades, have taken positions on social, scientific, and sexual issues which are different from those of the Vatican.
“It is surely right to have robust but respectful debate on such issues within Parliament, between our institutions, and throughout civil society. A very difficult past, and a turbulent present, need not be a barrier to an enlightened future.”
This was interpreted as being a lecture to the Pope to “move forward” on issues, such as LGBT rights, which Mr Bercow champions.
Yet he might as easily have said that there were many areas on which there was broad agreement.
With politicians like Gladstone, Ramsey McDonald, or even Clement Attlee, you would find a strong shared tradition of Christian values.
And Tony Blair, the last Labour PM, actually became a Catholic. Bercow could, had he chosen, have identified with the similarities, not the differences.
There is an udder kind of milk
There is currently a vegan campaign to persuade people to stop eating dairy foods – the campaign underlines the fact that when cows give us milk their calves are taken away from them. But animal husbandry has always involved a certain lack of sentimentality and I don’t see the human race giving up its milk products or its hamburgers any time soon.
However, some dietary advice focuses on dairy products as a cause of certain allergies in humans.
I am prone to psoriasis on my arms and legs, and I was advised that omitting dairy products would help the condition. I thought it no harm trying, and so switched from dairy butter to goat butter, and from cow’s milk on my porridge to goat milk, or, another delicious alternative, almond milk.
The eczema did fade from my legs, though it tends to return in patches to my arms – and anyway, I haven’t quit dairy products entirely, and still use some cow’s milk.
But I did grow to like goat’s butter better than dairy butter – it’s less waxy, but it feels like a genuine food product (where oil-based substitutes just taste – artificial). Goat’s butter is not as “goaty” as goat’s cheese, although I like that anyway.
Goat’s butter is not widely available – though Marks & Spencer in Dublin stock it.
I wouldn’t want to disparage dairy farmers, who have struggled to make a living in recent years, but the nanny goat can be an alternative to the moo-cow.