It seems that Camila Batmanghelidjh, who has friends in high places, wears colourful clothes and has raised large amounts of money for charity, got away with a lot. Kids Company, the charity she founded, was not well run and the money was not always put to good use.
This raises the question of how it could have happened. How did she get away with so much for so long?
Prime Minister David Cameron is described as being ‘mesmerised’ by her. In this connection, one of the first thoughts to come into my mind when the story became front page news is something I once read about Marie Corelli.
The Revd. Stuart Scott, a longtime admirer of her books, visited her and found her very disillusioning in appearance. However, he went on to say that after talking to her, his reservations disappeared and his critical faculties refused to function.
This is very interesting. What could be at work here? What stopped people from paying attention to the woman behind the curtains? Unconscious hypnotism, mind power, a smokescreen, psychological black magic even?
Something else that comes to mind is the idea that inauthentic people are suckers for inauthentic people.
Perhaps all the involved celebrities, politicians and ‘leftie luvvies’ took her – and each other – at face value, falling for each other’s glittering - and in her case bizarre - image. They all expected to be taken at their own estimations.
I once encountered Camila Batmanghelidjh and got very bad feelings. I formed an impression of someone who was cold, arrogant and contemptuous – this was when she was dealing with ordinary, working people. Perhaps she saves the charm and glamour for her rich and powerful friends.
