What can Casanova, Don Juan or even Hercule Poirot teach our party leaders?
SPRING, SEDUCTION and a touch of madness are in the air. The editor of Radio Times has declared that Mr Darcy is about to be ousted as women’s most desirable romantic hero in favour of the eponymous star of Casanova, the BBC Three TV series. But is it really likely that the nation’s women might turn their back on the morally upright man of their dreams in favour of being seduced by a superficial philanderer? This is no idle question in the run-up to a general election. Casanova was an 18th-century Italian adventurer who wrote no less than 12 volumes of memoirs about his life and numerous love affairs. This gargantuan act of self-promotion leads me to think he may have been rather too obsessed with his own image to be a truly great lover of anyone other than himself. He is also celebrated for such pithy quips as “Marriage is the tomb of love” and “Ah, to have a wife worthy of being a mistress . . .” and “Women would either be tyrants or slaves . . .”. Surely these are the kind of quotes
