So much of it about

Upon the classes of this country, democracy has laid a throttling hand. There is a spirit of discontent, they say, among the working-classes, the discontent which breeds socialism. There is a worse spirit of discontent among the upper classes here, and it is the discontent which breeds so-called traitors.

E. Phillips Oppenheim – The Double Traitor (1915)


An interesting observation. We could go on to suggest that the political rise of the working classes was likely to precipitate a certain level of escapist discontent among some members of the upper classes. Perhaps they had to escape from what they saw as a rising tide of democracy undermining their social ascendancy.

It certainly played out that way, right up until the present. Perhaps it is no surprise that the idea of treason and traitors has been downplayed for decades. So much of it about.