All I Need is Time

(This live version is so much better than the recorded single. the only thing that comes close is Roy Orbison's version).

~~~

someone said to me, the advantage of living here is that you can live like a king. all i need is time then I'll be a king...

that is, of course, quite true. but why would one want to live like a king? isn't a king cut of from other people and ordinary pleasures? and isn't the king's life based on the exploitation and suffering of many other people? the only important thing in terms of kingship is that one has a queen...

i've also heard many Paks say to me: in England you can only be a second-class citizen. there's some truth to that-or at least there was up until the eighties; not so true now, I think. but, again, what does a king know of citizenship?

It's not just that the vast inequalities of income and wealth in this country are wrong in themselves; it's that they translate into social and political inequalities. As David Miller pointed out some time ago, one important aspect of inequality is the way in which inequalities in income are regarded. Two points: it's hard to imagine there being much respect in a society when there are such extreme inequalities; secondly: a certain level of inequality may not trouble people too much if:

a) it was fairly acquired-a fair process,
b) is a reflection of merit,
c)doesn't re-inforce or contribute to inequalities in other spheres (gender relations, political representation, etc.)

civility, politeness, courtesy: civil, polity, court.

a king is really only a king in terms of his private pleasures. in a country where there's a strong public sector, a large and effective public domain (David Marquand)the king's wealth doesn't count for much and might even be seen as something that deprives him of something valuable, locking him into his own imagination or fantasies, isolated from fellowship, experience, a proper love of the world.

~~~

what is intelligence? the ability not to ask such questions? perhaps more: the ability to ask the right questions, to know that not everything under the sun can or has to be questioned. there's something quite fanatical about a mind that wants ready solutions, that cannot abide ambiguity, or come to terms with negative capability, or the occasional use of circular reasoning. after all: one could also ask, if one were so inclined, what counts as a reason (i.e what are the requirements for a reason to be a reason..Broome).

anselm:...

after all these years the only thing you've understood is that if this question is to be answered-and that's a big 'if' - it is: the ability to get out of oneslef, to recognize others..and more: intelligence and desire: volo ut sis.