Those of your readers familiar with Rudyard Kipling’s tales of the British Raj will be aware of a recurring theme. Ambitious young British administrator arrives in India. Zealous, workaholic, determined to make his mark. But our young man lacks common sense. India’s subtleties and complexities escape him.
The result of his misdirected energy? Chaos and extra work for everybody around him. Within 12 months our young man is put on a boat back to Britain, to general relief. Unrepentant, he blames everybody but himself.
I was reminded of this when reading Sir Rupert Jackson’s defence of his reforms in the Gazette recently.
Boris Kremer, Kremers, Fareham
