Concealed Ignorance

Bertha still could hardly believe genuine the admiration which her husband excited. Knowing his extreme incapacity, she was astounded that the rest of the world should think him an uncommonly clever fellow. To her his pretensions were merely ridiculous; she marvelled that he should venture to discuss, with dogmatic glibness, subjects of which he knew nothing; but she marvelled still more that people should be impressed thereby: he had an astonishing faculty of concealing his ignorance.

W. Somerset Maugham – Mrs Craddock (1902)

To my mind, the most interesting aspect of the Matt Hancock saga is that it is not particularly revealing. An air of concealed ignorance was there almost from the beginning of the pandemic. Quite unmistakable.

Recognising the dogmatic glibness of our MPs and media is not only frustrating but also interesting. It’s interesting that we are aware of their dishonesty and their scheming even if many details are obscure. Possibly we know nowhere near as much as we suppose, but it’s enough to take the measure of their ignorance and that is where the interest lies.

Take UK party politics as an example. If we know all parties are dishonest then either their integrity has declined, or in a digital age we know more about the way things are done and this has raised our expectations. I’d say the latter, but those people with raised expectations are not the majority.