Alfred the Great and Today's Austerity

Here is a beautiful tribute to learning and languages, via Clerk of Oxenford, by Alfred the Great.  The King's words are as good a tribute as I have read to the importance of books and learning.  That he could recognise the importance of such things, that some politicians consider "extras" today given his own experience of near annihilation at the hands of the Danes is a tribute to his humanity and true greatness, compared to the shallowness of many modern politicians.