Alfred the Great left a warning more than a thousand years ago that Kevin Rudd (and other government leaders) should bear in mind: “But even though afflictions teach and instruct him, if he acquire the kingdom, he immediately becomes perverted with pride at the people’s reverence for him, and becomes accustomed to flattering praise.” Alfred is the first political leader in the English-speaking world of whom we have detailed knowledge —enough to make a biography possible—and many of the basics of the ruler’s life remain. He had to follow a narrow path between compromise, delay and the hard decisions, while…