Labour and the public interest

One of the rigors of public office is maintaining the constant flow of words it demands, and trying to sustain these utter ances with at least a minimum diet of reasonable good sense. The land is covered with organizations given to the habit of weekly, monthly, or annual meetings, all to be ad dressed by speakers summoned from as great a distance as the organizational treasury permits. While other advanced societies have wisely put the siesta after the noonday meal and reduced after-dinner eloquence to the sensible brevity of the toast, we continue here to nourish the illusion that extended oratory is an aid to digestion. It is part of the code that government officials are fair game for the predatory pursuits of program chairmen, whether their blandishment is a free meal or an honorary doctoral degree.

Despite all this, the pages that follow reflect the satis faction there has been in trying to say from time to time over the past three years what has come to mind under the pressures of forensic duty-and not really unwillingly at all.