Honesty and ideas for writers

Is honesty the best policy for writers?

 Today the twin topics are: the history of honesty and the history of ideas.
Both are important for writers. How honest can you be, and do you want to be in your writing? And what ideas inspire and interest you.

 When I researched the origins of the word honesty I learned that it derives from Latin (honestas) through old French and old English. Originally the word was about honour and respectability. Later it was chastity and virtue.

In fact 30 April has been called Honesty Day. 

“’onest”

(Trotter style talk in TV’s Only Fools and Horses for when people are being dishonest)

There is a European plant called Honesty, which is white with translucent seed pods. It is also called the Money Plant. But money and honesty make uneasy bedfellows.

The History of Ideas has been brought into sharp focus this week, with the launch of a podcast of the same name by David Runciman, the eminent Cambridge academic whose podcast Talking Politics is widely followed.

 Runciman begins, not with the ancient political philosophers from Greece and before, but with the 17th century English writer Thomas Hobbes whose book ‘Leviathian’ (literally meaning a sea monster) was published in 1651 a couple of years after Charles I’s head was cut off. 

 In lucid layers Runciman unpeals Leviathan and explains why it remains important to us today as a statement on social structure and legitimate government.

 So, sound out Runciman’s History of Ideas and you are promised the start of a fascinating procession over the past 370 years to see where we are today and how global politics functions, or misfunctions during our Covid crisis.

Words and ideas are the lifeblood of writers, so be sure to consider how honesty and dishonesty work in your writing and what you can get out of Runciman’s History of Ideas.