July 16, 2006

Keith Joseph, the father of Thatcherism, 'was autistic' claims Professor

Thatcher /spits on floor

posted by Chyren 18 years ago
  • That's a terrible thing to say about Autistics!
  • Maybe they meant he was artistic.
  • ..."Asperger's syndrome, a condition that renders sufferers unable to interpret social situations or to empathise with other people..." Let's not start the list of politicians and strategists who suffer(ed) from this syndrome, we haven't the bandwidth.
  • That thought crossed my mind, too, Ralph. But it is at least good that the condition is gaining more recognition.
  • The Independent is asking for £1 to see the article. I believe it's true that Joseph found dealing with people stressful. He hated doorstep campaigning, though most politicians profess to love it, and I've heard he often vomited from nerves before making one of his speeches to student unions (though he must have done hundreds of those in the late seventies). Not sure that constitutes autism, though. I doubt if it has much direct connection with his politics, either. Having difficulty interpreting social situations is one thing: an intellectual conviction that 'there is no such thing as society', assuming he agreed with Thatcher about that, is another. I believe, moreover, that Joseph's period as Maggie's John the Baptist involved a late reversal of his earlier, wet Heathite views: in fact, that he was motivated by a guilty feeling that it was his duty to correct the Keynesianism he had propagated earlier. Even in his most ardently free-market days I don't think he imagined going half as far as T. Blair and his cronies have since gone in turning over public assets and services to more or less any capitalist who knocks on the door.
  • "The Independent is asking for £1 to see the article." Fuck.
  • The Independent is the only rag that's running the story, too, so there is no other source as yet. Howzabout a list of famous people with Asperger syndrome? 1. Hans Asperger 2. Albert Einstein 3. ...
  • Me.
  • Hans Christian Andersen (likely), James Joyce (very likely), almost certainly Bill Gates, maybe Kafka, Wittgenstein definitely.
  • Ironically also Oliver Sacks, although apparently he is strangely shy of speculating on this, if I recall correctly.
  • (& I suspect Plegmund)
  • The Independent is asking for £1 to see the article. Now send me money.