
Much of its shock value derives from the fact that almost the entire first half of the essay is written in a deadly serious style, describing the plight to which starving beggars have been subjected in Ireland, so that the reader is entirely unready for the "bombshell" that Swift drops when he states, still in an entirely serious tone:
"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust".
I’ve come reluctantly to think, especially after the senseless killing of Tom ap Rhys Pryce, that perhaps some babies, in the public interest and to prevent them growing up to a life of violence, should be forcibly taken from their mothers and adopted.
A solicitor was stabbed to death during a street robbery yards from his home, it has emerged, as police hunted two muggers who continued to attack him after he gave them what they demanded.
Tom Ap Rhys Pryce, 31, who worked for Linklaters, a leading corporate law firm, was repeatedly stabbed on his head, torso and hands as he tried to defend himself.
Yesterday detectives described the attack as "vicious, ferocious and gratuitous".
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