Why we should study literature, not science

Who was it who said good manners had gone the way of black and white TV? Actually it was yours truly after watching the slobs parading up and down Gstaad’s main street. That was last year, but the bad news is that this year slobovia has come to stay again. Mind you, Alexandra and I had planned to have 50 friends for a party to celebrate 50 years of my enslavement, but Mister Omicron arrived and put a damper on our plans. The tent on the lawn and the oompah band were cancelled, and the New Year’s Eve blast turned into a smallish affair. The good news is that there are still a few people who don’t adhere to the online culture of today, that of anger, incivility and non-stop use of the F-word.

For example, this week I received thank-you letters from two old Lawrenceville schoolboys who attended my Christmas party in the Bagel. Mark and Andrew are tall and good-looking, and were obviously brought up the right way because nowadays a thank-you letter is as rare as a virgin in Las Vegas. Mark and Andrew had just arrived when John Paulson walked in with his really beautiful girlfriend. The Lawrenceville boys encircled her like Panzers approaching Dunkirk. John and I used to hang out together every night in old Au Bar times. Then we sort of lost touch. He bet against the prime in 2008 and made 20 billion big ones. Yep, 20 billion and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Needless to say lots of Bagelites now seek his company but John Paulson has remained cool and is still the way he was before he made his billions. Most people at my party had no idea who he was, and that suited him fine.