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The election campaign has just taken an 18th-century turn for the better. A Polish prince, sick of Ukip’s denigration of eastern European migrants, has challenged Nigel Farage to a duel.
It looks like a literal skirmish is on the cards at last for all us political commentators churning out tired military metaphors for the election campaign.
Prince Janek Żyliński, son of Prince Andrzej Żyliński, who saved 6,000 Jews during the Second World War when he led a cavalry charge against the Germans in 1939, wants to draw swords with Farage in Hyde Park. Or, failing that, to challenge him to a “duel of words” in a TV debate if his “sword is a little bit rusty”.
Here he is, saying “I’ve realised that what I now have to do is to stand up in defence of my people”, telling Farage that “enough is enough” and challenging him to a duel:
“I would like us to meet in Hyde Park one morning, with our swords, and resolve this matter in the way that an 18th-century Polish aristocrat and an English gentleman would traditionally do. Are you up for it, Mr Farage?”
An intriguing proposal. But I don’t know who Żyliński is calling an English gentleman.