For Tivadar Soros

A Blug - blog plug - I'm afraid, but sometimes it has to be done. There is a sensational essay by my friend John Gray in The New York Review of Books - it's here but you have to pay - on George Soros. John is the most dazzling thinker and here he is at full throttle. This piece is unsummarisable, but one story stopped me in my tracks. Soros is a Jew and was, therefore, in mortal danger when the Nazis invaded Hungary. His father, Tivadar, had been imprisoned by the Russians in Siberia. He knew what to expect and acted swiftly to save his family. He told George, 'There are times when the normal rules do not apply, and if you obey the rules at those times you are liable to perish.' This was some man. L'Chiam, Tivadar.