Mrs Benn

In these strange days where so much of life occurs online, people give TV interviews from home, more often than not with a bookshelf as the backdrop. Is it really the case that in most people’s homes the best place to set up a webcam is just in front of a bookshelf? Or are people trying to tell us something about their intellects? Private Eye used to run a column called Pseuds Corner, and I detect the scent of psuedery here! I wish that interviewers would ask politicians about the titles on their shelves – in Nietzsche’s words, “to pose questions with a hammer and perhaps to receive for answer that famous hollow sound that speaks of inflated bowels”. Having conducted much of my professional life during the last year sitting on a sofa adorned only by a few tastefully coordinating cushions, I began to feel that perhaps I too ought to demonstrate my literacy to the world by appearing in front of a bookshelf. In the interests of full disclosure, I must declare that I have not read the Habermas, and fear that I never will. However, I particularly enjoyed the Victor Book for Boys. As for the Heidegger, all I can say is “das Nichts selbst nichtet”.