The third and last excerpt from McCall Smith’s article on what he would do if he ruled the world:

I’m afraid that art colleges face some scrutiny. It is difficult for young artists to get training in drawing and painting, because these subjects have been treated with derision by those on favour of conceptual art. As a result, most graduates are incapable of drawing, which, as David Hockney has reminded us, is one of the basic building blocks of artistic creation.

This man, McCall Smith, is not only one of Britain’s most successful, and funny, writers, he is a true Epicurean, even if he doesn’t know it. Epicurus would have us vote for him as ruler of the world and breathe a giant sigh of relief that discipline, not gimmicry, was to be re-introduced. Human beings like the discipline of a mastering a hard craft, like drawing or playing the piano – or anything else requiring excellence. “Anything goes” should, well, go. We have had enough of relativism and dumbing everything down in case it might hurt the feelings of the less hard-working and talented.