Taki Taki

I salute Professor Neil Ferguson

Prof Ferguson has nothing to feel sorry about. He has proved, in the fine British tradition of Horatio Nelson, that sex conquers all. Credit: Roger-Viollet/Shutterstock

Gstaad

Let me begin with a salute to the winner of this year’s Sir Jimmy Goldsmith prize: Professor Neil Ferguson. The prize is awarded every year to a man who casts convention aside and — lockdown or no lockdown — continues to shag his mistress and to hell with the coronavirus. The professor has apologised but Antonia Staats, the mistress, has not. Neither of them has anything to feel sorry about. When the urge comes, social distancing grows smaller, pardon the reverse pun. We all want to flatten the curve, and Ferguson did just that. He has proved by his rash action that sex conquers all, following in the tradition of England’s greatest hero, Horatio Nelson, and countless others, unsung heroes all. They have been overshadowed by the French and Italians to be sure, but now, with the prof leading the way, there’s hope that Britain can emerge as a nation of shaggers who are fearless in their pursuit of sexual gratification even in the face of Chinese efforts to turn us all into a nation of self-abusers.

And speaking of non-self-abusers, two years or so ago I had back-to-back New York luncheons with Steve Bannon, and boy, have some of his predictions and fears ever come true! Bannon’s days as chief adviser to the Donald were numbered right off the bat. He had only one agenda: China. He never mentioned Trump or attempted to settle any scores when talking to me — Steve’s much too sophisticated for that.

His main theme was that certain critical US technologies and resources are controlled by China. This was 18 months before the Chinese communist government disappeared journalists or punished various scientists who set off alarms about the virus. World domination through commercial means is China’s goal, according to Steve.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in