Lady Hallett and a Socratic enquiry

SOCRATES: I was walking through the agora after having had a discussion with an impetuous young man who argued that a good orator could win a debate on any subject, even though he knew nothing about it. This left me rather baffled, so it was a pleasure to fall in with the lawyer Lady Hallett, on whose good sense one could always rely…

SOCRATES: Good morning, Lady Hallett. Whence, whither, and wherefore?

LADY HALLETT: From home, O Socrates, to chair the inquiry into the Covid pandemic.

S: Clearly, then, you are an expert in pandemics.

LH: Far from it, O Socrates.

S: Then where is your expertise?

LH: In carrying out inquiries.

S: Then could you carry out an inquiry into anything?

LH: But of course. That is the job of a judge.

S: Knowing nothing about the topic under enquiry?

LH: Naturally. I shall learn about it when I hear the experts.

S: And will you then become an expert in pandemics?

LH: It all depends what you mean by an expert, O Socrates.