It's changed from snow to rain here, which is frustrating because I want to go back and check that photo - but it has to be sunny, as it was for the original.
So I've been browsing the news to keep my cynicism up to speed.
It seems the current Conservative leader (they're not in power, but can't be worse than Blair's lot) ONCE smoked pot when he was fifteen. The press are circling this like buzzards around a dead cow.
What the hell does it matter? He's not fifteen now. Things I did when I was fifteen and knew no better are not admissible as evidence. Things you did when you were younger are similarly stricken from the record.
Did I ever smoke pot? Yes.
I tried it once, when I was a student. It did nothing as far as I could tell. I heard 'Oh, you have to smoke it a few times before it has an effect'. Well, I thought, to hell with that. I heard it was a Great Thing. I tried it. It did nothing. I'm not bothering again.
I've never tried harder drugs (unless you count malt whisky, Absinthe and cigars) because they have immediate and lasting effects on the brain, and my brain is what earns my living. Maybe when I retire. These days I don't even take aspirin.
So, should this leader of the Conservatives be damned forever because he did something naughty when he was fifteen? Compare that with what fifteen-year-olds are doing today. Stealing cars. Beating up pensioners. Stabbing people. Shooting people (yes, in the UK, and in the last week). Dealing hard drugs.
To me, smoking a bit of weed is a trivial offence compared to those. And it's not like he was doing it while he was a politician. If there was the slightest evidence of that, you can bet there'd be headlines.
He was a kid at the time. He's refused to deny it, and why should he? He did something wrong when he knew no better. He's not doing it now.
I've never voted Conservative, and I have no time for politicians, but really, if this is all the press can come up with to damn this particular one, then he can't be all that bad.
I'm still not voting for him though. I want someone who will make political correctness a crime.
2 comments:
Rom...
A little bit of Americana for you:
When Clinton ran for Pres, they charged that he had smoked pot in his younger days. Reporters asked him about it.
Yes, he had sampled pot, he admitted, but he had not inhaled!
Fastforward to when Bush was running for Pres and there were allegations of college drinking. Yes, he had tried booze, he admitted, but he had never swallowed!
If Bush really said that, I'll increase my estimation of the man by a few points. No politician has ever scored above zero on my scale since they start at -100 just for wanting to be politicians, and they all lose points along the way. A sense of humour is worth twenty points, at least.
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