In parts of the media there has been uproar about the possibility of raising the retirement age beyond 65. Yet now, when a 66 year-old man decides it is time to call it a day, it is also considered newsworthy. I wish they would make up their minds.
I am not particularly interested in Sir Menzies Campbell, but find amusing the amount of media attention his resignation has created.
As I watched the drama unfold on Sky news the other evening, I saw party chairman Simon Hughes being asked repeatedly, “Did you wield the knife? DID YOU WIELD THE KNIFE!”
There is nothing quite like sexing-up a boring old resignation, is there?
I would have loved Simon Hughes to have come back out to the baying hordes and said, “Actually no. There were no daggers involved. That would be barbaric. As a forward thinking party we advocate the use of technology, and I feel it is only right to say that once the electrodes were securely fastened to Ming’s testicles, he was more than compliant. In fact, we are hoping that testicle-electrodes will become a core element in our election manifesto. ASBO’s are dead. Long live the testicle-electrode!”
I would almost vote for them if he were to say that. Almost.
As it is, there are now some calls to bring back Charles Kennedy. Calls which I whole-heartedly agree with. Normally when an alcoholic is ‘outed’ by the media we get the chance to see photos of them stumbling out of a nightclub, or fighting with police, or vomiting outside a kebab shop. With Charles Kennedy, we saw none of this, he merely drifted from view. Which is why I feel cheated.
Give him the job again I say, and give us all the chance to see what entertainment a proper alcoholic can provide given an adequate platform.
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mr farty · October 17, 2007 at 10:25 am
Testicle-electrodes? Are you trying to offload second-hand stock that you picked up on a recent trip abroad?
GH · October 17, 2007 at 12:34 pm
See, this is why I’d vote for you if you ever stood, Mr A. You’d be like a wild cross between Lembit Opik and Hitler. Taking the disrepute in politics to new levels. Vote Angry! Vote Now!
Plus with the recent posts, you could count on the hoodie vote, if any of them are old and can be arsed to that is.
GH
KT · October 17, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I’d really like Charles Kennedy back too. But only because I got annoyed by constantly hearing that there will now be a ‘3rd Lib Dem leader in 2 years’ (said in shocked tone on BBC News24 about 2000 times yesterday).
It’ll be their 4th leader in 19 years too, but that doesn’t sound shocking so they never said that. Along with the ‘age, age, age’ discussions it’s just sensationalist reporting and it pisses me off.
Of course, with policies like yours, the media might be happy to actually report the facts!
Four Dinners · October 18, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Much more fun if he’d been Ming the Merciless. He’d have walked an election