Still arrogant, after all this time
This is where I get arrogant.
I have much in my life about which to be modest. Every time I open a decent broadsheet, I learn new things. Every day. And that is a blessing. At 60, it is good to push your brain.
I have curiosity. I enjoy new things.
But I also know things. Some things, I know well. Very well. Areas of expertise. And, because they are familiar areas, I keep up to date. I groom contacts. I may be stuck in the boondocks, but the intelligence - literally and metaphorically - is fresh
That makes me authoritative. So be it. Sometimes, arrogant. I make no apology. Because I know things you don't. Subtlties. Shades. Emphasis.
My area is the Middle East. When I pontificate, I expect you to take note.
Because I do know. So does Bobbsy.
We were immersed for so many years. We still know the players. I have taken the current Israeli premier to dinner. In Charlotte Street. Round the corner from the Beeb. When he was not prime minster. Ditto Netyanyahu when he was a press secretary in Tel Aviv. That's how it goes when you work for WTN or BBC or Sky News.
When we pontificate, it's not a belch. We have been there. We KNOW. Both sides. The shits. The good guys. We have been stroked. We have been leant on. Sometimes severely.
So . . . when pricks like Ryuu get arrogant. I get impatient. When I say he is an idiot, he is.
If he wants to talk about workers' rights in the Yucatan. I will defer. He knows that. I don't
But the Middle East? Fuck Off.
So . . . meanwhile . . . back to Gordon Brown's 'post-neo-classical endogenous growth theory' - and non-UKers STILL have no idea what I'm talking about, right? Go Google, then laugh and point! :)
I have much in my life about which to be modest. Every time I open a decent broadsheet, I learn new things. Every day. And that is a blessing. At 60, it is good to push your brain.
I have curiosity. I enjoy new things.
But I also know things. Some things, I know well. Very well. Areas of expertise. And, because they are familiar areas, I keep up to date. I groom contacts. I may be stuck in the boondocks, but the intelligence - literally and metaphorically - is fresh
That makes me authoritative. So be it. Sometimes, arrogant. I make no apology. Because I know things you don't. Subtlties. Shades. Emphasis.
My area is the Middle East. When I pontificate, I expect you to take note.
Because I do know. So does Bobbsy.
We were immersed for so many years. We still know the players. I have taken the current Israeli premier to dinner. In Charlotte Street. Round the corner from the Beeb. When he was not prime minster. Ditto Netyanyahu when he was a press secretary in Tel Aviv. That's how it goes when you work for WTN or BBC or Sky News.
When we pontificate, it's not a belch. We have been there. We KNOW. Both sides. The shits. The good guys. We have been stroked. We have been leant on. Sometimes severely.
So . . . when pricks like Ryuu get arrogant. I get impatient. When I say he is an idiot, he is.
If he wants to talk about workers' rights in the Yucatan. I will defer. He knows that. I don't
But the Middle East? Fuck Off.
So . . . meanwhile . . . back to Gordon Brown's 'post-neo-classical endogenous growth theory' - and non-UKers STILL have no idea what I'm talking about, right? Go Google, then laugh and point! :)