The deadly virtues 3: Politeness

I mean conventional politeness, not courtesy. Courtesy is sensitivity to the needs of another person, and to the effect of one’s words or behaviour, which is entirely compatible with speaking the truth as a critical friend. I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing that there were more of it.

Politeness is merely abiding by the social code, and avoiding anything that might cause upset or controversy, which means that issues which deserve to be addressed are fudged. I’ve been made aware of this recently by the thoroughly British (read ‘bland and tentative’) language used by the Financial Services Authority when monitoring the lending policies of the banks. They appear to have said things like ‘this could do with improvement’, when what was needed was a trenchant reminder that the banks were embarked on a course of folly, which would damage themselves and lots of other people.

I had a comparable experience myself when I was a Quality Assessor for the Higher Education Funding Council for England. More than once, I uncovered things which were quite shocking, but we were restricted by the ground-rules to saying, ‘The Department might wish to consider…’ Needless to say, nothing was done to remedy the abuses.

Gambling one’s time away

Yesterday evening, V went very reluctantly with some friends to play bingo. The reason is that they are rehearsing a play which is set in a bingo hall, and they wanted to acquire some familiarity with what went on.

The experience was pretty appalling. Several hundred people at least, probably more, playing with the bingo books, and, in between games, using slot machines fitted into the tables. The noise of coins going in was deafening: a cascade of several hundred pounds at once. As if this were not enough, the entrance hall was chock-a-block with fruit machines.

I fear for our society if it is so culturally impoverished that this is all people want to do with their spare time. I fear even more if it has to do with a kind of fatalism, a feeling that we have so little control over our lives that we might as well leave everything to chance: the millions spent on lottery tickets and scratch-cards, and the growth of online gambling would suggest this.

Yes, I know various organisations benefit from lottery money, but gambling verging on the addictive is a high price to pay for supporting charities. It’s a colossal waste of human creativity and resources.

Disabled-friendly?

Owing to a recent gammy knee episode, I had occasion to learn from painful experience (literally), how far Glasgow has to go in enabling access to utilities by disabled people. As far as I could see, few if any of the Underground stations have lifts, and after I had hirpled down the steps of Buchanan St (which were slippery with a film of water), and arrived at Hillhead, the escalator at Hillhead wasn’t working. I don’t know what it is about Hillhead, but every time I go down there my glasses mist up. So I was momentarily blind as well as lame.

Nothing like a bit of temporary disability to make you thankful for good health, and to learn patience with the slow-moving person in front of you on a crowded pavement.