April 23, 2025

If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.

Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999), American film director, The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.117

Has anyone ever described you as brilliant? A demonstrator of mastery of some matter? A source of consolation, in any regard?

Providing consolation is one of the most important skills a politician can acquire, one not to be ignored.