IN Agatha Christie’s They Came to Baghdad (1951), unassuming intelligence agent Mr Dakin tells Victoria Jones (described by Mrs Clayton as ‘an amiable nitwit with a lot of common sense’) just what the problem facing the world really is.
“The belief in a superstratum of human beings — in Supermen to rule the rest of the decadent world — that, Victoria, is the most evil of all beliefs. For when you say, ‘I am not as other men’ — you have lost the two most valuable qualities we have tried to attain: humility and brotherhood.”
The posts below are by writers of the past, who, in different times and places, saw what Mr Dakin saw, and encouraged us to expect more of ourselves and of our country.
