Gordon Brown gets angry... Shock, Horror!!

So, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has a temper. Add this to the fact that he lost the use of an eye in his youth, and is known to cry over his lost baby daughter, and what do you have? Answer, journalistic fodder!


Since when are any of these things news worthy? Since when do we pick on people who show human characteristics? Impatience leading to frustration, or bad writing because of poor sight, or an expression of deep personal grief? Politicians are not my favourite people, but guess which profession(?) has just knocked them off their perch? Yes, the journalists. The past few days have seen an endless stream of interviews with anyone who has been near the Prime Minister when anything like an outburst has been seen or heard. People have reported him thumping his papers on his desk in exasperation, and oh yes, he has been impatient with staff for not doing as he had asked. He even shouted... wow! What happened to the basic tenet of British law that you were innocent until proven guilty. We usually go out of our way to show this to the most undeserving criminal, but not to the PM! Seems he is an easy target. Even the helpline who helped break the story has now lost two of its sponsors, and the position of the chief of staff is in doubt, because they broke their fundamental rule of privacy and confidentiality. Can they be trusted now with YOUR call if you felt you were being bullied? I thought not! I would find another helpline!!


Perhaps at this point it would be wise to mention that the whole reason this has come up is because someone has written a book with unfounded allegations of fits of temper, coming from Gordon Brown. Aaahhhhh yes, now I get it! Someone wants to sell more books, and make more money, but it is more sinister than that. The opposition parties (all of them) are baying for blood. They see a man down, and instead of helping him to his feet, they sink the boot in while he is down. Have they never heard of the old wise saying, 'there but for the grace of God go I'? It seems not. Instead they talk piously as though they have never raised their voice at their staff, or lost their temper temporarily in frustration. I think it's this hypocrisy that really gets to me. Not the temper. It's the wide eyed innocence of the politicians who throw stones in the face of being reminded, 'let him who is without sin cast the first stone'. If you would prefer a non biblical phrase, then how about 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'. Yes, we are back to throwing stones again. As Shakespeare said, 'methinks he protesteth too much'.


It will not have escaped your attention that there will be a UK General Election before May, and if this strikes you as being an example of the type of opening salvo, you will be right. This will be a dirty election campaign. The opposition parties have seen to that already. Whatever happened to discussing the real things that affect us all, like health, education, crime, unemployment, and yes, of course the basic morality of our country (and why not start with our politicians)?