Friday, July 12, 2013

A defence of an 11 per cent increase for MPs in an age of austerity

From chapter 3 of Animal Farm:
The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed every day into the pigs' mash. The early apples were now ripening, and the grass of the orchard was littered with windfalls. 
The animals had assumed as a matter of course that these would be shared out equally; one day, however, the order went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected and brought to the harness-room for the use of the pigs. 
At this some of the other animals murmured, but it was no use. All the pigs were in full agreement on this point, even Snowball and Napoleon. Squealer was sent to make the necessary explanations to the others. 
"Comrades!" he cried. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health.
"Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. 
"Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples."

1 comment:

Squirrel Nutkin said...

Spooky! I just got an email from Snowball asking me to sign some kind of petition, though I still cannot quite see who we are petitioning to do what. Would more milk-and-apples help?