Leonardo DiCaprio

The great Theodore Dalrymple wrote in these pages about Britain’s decline, how her architects are devoid of scruples and they wage war on beauty, how Britain, once the world’s most ordered country is now among the worst, fat slobs and the foulest of language monopolizing the TV channels, and how our leaders favor the uncouth over the refined, the stupid over the intelligent, and the brutal over the gentle.

Better yet, have any of you taken a train lately? Both in Britain and America, trains are dangerous places where hoods will attack the vulnerable and slobs will intimidate women and the weak. It seems to me that what matters most nowadays to most people are Wi-Fi access, mobile phones, laptops, and game consoles. And to use the F-word as much as possible in front of as many people as possible. Last week I received a letter that contained the picture of a young 14- or 15-year-old girl. She was incredibly beautiful and innocent looking and I looked for the sender, and it read Martin, Helen, and Francesca Scorsese. Francesca is my wife’s goddaughter; hence the card. Her mother and I used to go out when we were young, and Martin Scorsese is among the greatest directors of our time. He was going to be a priest until he got the Hollywood urge. So my question is: Why does such a talented man insert the F-word 501 times while almost glamorizing a crook of Wall Street who—worse than Madoff—stole from the working poor? Is it for reality’s sake? The coke, the ’ludes, the booze, the broads, and the porn are all there, and they are what makes the movie so popular. Because that’s all that people are interested in, not the fact that stealing from working stiffs should be a life sentence rather than the two years the real Wolf of Wall Street got.

Klaus Schwab would serve society better if he switched things around and held a World Decency Forum.