Most recent Presidents make President Eisenhower look moderate, and Roosevelt truly inspirational. Kamala Harris is pretty ruthless to, but maybe that's a requirement to move up the greasy pole and not representative of a wider demographic.

I remember being shocked 25 years ago when visiting friends of friends on a family holiday in Washington state. They were politically progressive social workers but almost their first question, on hearing our occupations, was "how much do you make?"

In Ireland you would never ask that question, even of close friends, and you certainly wouldn't measure your self-worth or the status of others by it. Indeed flaunting wealth - if you have it - is much frowned upon and there is a cottage industry in quite wealthy individuals "putting on the poor mouth".

Index of Frank's Diaries