From Harvard the gift of the Niall
Approaches with crocodile smile.
To contemplate him
Is to think of the hymn:
“And only the human is vile.”
***********************
Update: A British reader corrects my pronunciation of Niall (should sound like neel). All I can say in my own defense is that I had an Irish boyfriend once who pronounced it nile. (At least that’s how I recall it – it’s been a long time.) I’m also rebuked here:
Niall pronounce Nile is an Anglification of the name and it takes the heritage out of the name
Gevalt. Excuse me.
May 5th, 2013 at 9:31AM
He really, really doesn’t like Keynes. Some people think Keynes book on the Economic Consequences of the Peace is his best. They should read Chapter 14 of Ferguson’s The Pity of War where he eviscerates Keynes book and his activism in encouraging Germany not to pay reparations. Of course, he had the benefit of hindsight and none of this is to excuse his incredibly stupid comments.
May 5th, 2013 at 12:28PM
Couldn’t quite get a limerick to work on first try, so I took a shot at a double dactyl. Had to force the stresses just a bit, but dactyls are tough.
Hodomite Sodomite
Niall C. D. Ferguson
Rubbishes Keynes for his
Childless Life.
“Lacking some Kids make you
Dumb, and so _I_ put my
Three in good Hands, when I
Dumped my first Wife.”
May 5th, 2013 at 3:59PM
Dave: Good one. I considered writing my limerick from exactly the same angle – the gay divorcee, call it…
May 7th, 2013 at 2:41PM
It would seem to me that “tak(ing) the heritage out of” Niall would perfectly suit Ferguson given his views on the merits of the English Empire.
May 7th, 2013 at 2:55PM
Not to mention this.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3622053/Happy-Hogmanay-and-to-celebrate-lets-put-Scotland-into-liquidation.html