Of Course, Rowan Willams has consistently demonstrated a level of foolishness unbecoming his office, but never one to give in, he wades into the MP’s expenses row and makes a total arse of himself once more.
The “systematic humiliation” of MPs is threatening Britain’s democracy, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.
Sigh… What has damaged democracy is MPs’ consistent contempt for both it and the electorate they are supposed to represent. Our justified anger and the subsequent humiliation of MPs who have misbehaved is perfectly reasonable. If they had not behaved badly in the first place, there would be no humiliation, would there? And if they valued our democracy, there would be an immediate election, yet Bottler Brown, knowing that he will lose – and lose badly – is going to cling on as long as he can, using the excuse that his losing will lead to chaos; and fuck what the electorate want. The proles, of course, lack his wisdom and know not what is best for them, such is the arrogance and conceit of the man.
Dr Williams says that it would be a tragedy if the expenses saga ended any confidence in the idea that politics and public service could be a calling “worthy of the most generous instincts”.
Williams is as out of touch as MPs, frankly. The expenses saga has finally brought to the publics attention what many of us who take an interest in politics have been saying for a long, long time; the system is rotten and politicians are failing in their duty to represent us, preferring to milk it for their own benefits. It is they not us who ended confidence in politics. They are responsible and the point cannot be stated often enough.
The warning came after Nadine Dorries, a Tory backbencher, claimed today that MPs were victims of a “McCarthy-style witch-hunt” over their expenses.
The MP for Mid-Bedfordshire warned that the relentless drip-drip of leaked claims was creating such an atmosphere of terror that there was a real risk of an MP committing suicide.
Yes, well, Ms Dorries wants to get a sense of perspective. And, frankly, if any MP wants to commit suicide, I’m more than happy for them to buy the rope on expenses. No, there is no sympathy here – this is entirely self inflicted. If I sound harsh, it’s because in any other walk of life, what these people have done would be criminal fraud. That it isn’t is simply because they wrote the rules that exempted them from boundaries the rest of us are expected to respect on pain of gaol – not for us, mere humiliation. So, no, I have no sympathy and one MP who takes the easy way out is one less rotten apple as far as I am concerned.
According to one Tory source, party officials have had conversations with Ms Dorries on more than one occasion to rebuke her for her “increasing tendency to make wild and eccentric statements”.
You don’t say…
After Ms Dorries drew a comparison between the expenses scandal and the anti-Communist witch-hunts of US senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, a number of other MPs hit out at the backbencher.
Stephen Pound, the Labour MP, described Ms Dorries’s comments as “facile” adding: “The idea that anybody is going to play the violin and ask people to contribute to the MPs’ relief fund has absolutely no grasp of reality whatsoever.”
Can’t argue with that. Like I said, out of touch.
We need an election and sooner rather than later. The excuse offered by Bottler just don’t wash. And Rowan Williams really should stick to talking to his imaginary friend, at least then, he will appear to be making some sort of sense.
There’s no sympathy from me, either. And no, we’re not being harsh – I’ve spent the last few years talking to genuinely suicidal people – mainly teenagers – online, and on the phone.
Here, we’re not talking about a 15 year-old girl who’s being physically abused by her father, or a 13 year-old who’s been gang raped. Those people I have sympathy for.
We’re talking about adults who have been offered and have accepted a position of responsibility, have abused it, and are now worrying about the consequences of being found out; something that they never expected to happen when they took the job.
If we commit a crime, are we going to be allowed to escape the consequences if we claim that we’re suicidal or ’emotionally distressed and under a lot of pressure’? Nope, thought not.
We can have ‘One rule for them, and another for the rest of us peons’, or we can have a just society. Which one would Nadine Dorries prefer?
Colourful eccentrics like Nadine Dorries add a touch of light relief to the political gloom. Odd that the weirdest political women are Tories – remember Teresa Gorman, the still vocal Anne Widdencombe, not to mention Thatcher!
Regardless of whether I agree or disagree with the comments that Nadine Dorries has made on the subject, the forcible disappearance of her blog is more than a trifle disturbing.
http://dizzythinks.net/2009/05/telegraph-group-takes-down-dorries-blog.html
Thanks for that – I’ve made my own comments today.