Do MPs' sex lives matter? asks The Observer.
At which point I go into classic Vicky Pollard mode "Yeah but no but yeah..."
There is a great deal of rubbish talked about politicians. The most irksome is "If he's going to lie to his wife about his sex life, he's bound to lie about Policy Issues." To which I say Bollocks. I assume that most people are dishonest some of the time. I'm the expert at inventing post hoc excuses for failing to act; my partner's specialised subject is trying to rationalise and justify alcohol consumption, to me, but mainly to himself. It does not follow that therefore we are fraudsters or cheats or whatever. Guess what, people compartmentalise their lives. The nature of life at Westminster, where Alpha-males, men and women, spend ridiculous hours often hundreds of miles from base create conditions for sexual adventuring. Of course, all French Presidents have mistresses. I think it's a prerequisite of the office.
And I personally don't care what a politician's orientation is: straight, gay, bisexual, whatever. I made the mistake of catching the beginning of Question Time the other night, when the panel included Simon Hughes. I turned off when some ghastly member of the public started ranting about "This is a Christian country yet we allow all manner of perversions lesbianism, homosexuality blah blah blah watch my eyes swivel." Give it a rest already. Haven't you grasped that people are sick and tired of the faux morality of religious nutjobs trying to tell people how to live their private lives?
What I don't like, and I sense this is widely shared, is the hypocrisy. I can't stand this flaunting of family by politicians. It's tired and clichéd and meaningless. Considering the majority of politicians are male I'm not sure how demonstrating they have ejaculated once or twice demonstrates their fitness for office. (I know there is a lot more to fatherhood than that, but it's possible to parade perfectly formed brats without having the slightest idea about them, their concerns, or the concerns of ordinary parents).
Perhaps we get the Press we deserve, although frankly, what we have done to deserve the shower that is the pride of Fleet Street beats me. It's no longer of any great interest when an MP, indeed, a minister is gay, per se. I'm not saying there isn't homophobia, but it's pretty muted compared to the misogyny that abounds (see Ruth Kelly). Or the class-based snobbishness (see John Prescott). Dave 'Citizen' Cameron has demonstrated that a history of non-problematic drug use is not in itself a bar, and Charles Kennedy has demonstrated that we are intolerant of problematic drug use (yeah, yeah, I know alcoholism is an illness, and I have every sympathy blahblahblah).
What continues to bug me is the continuing assumption that morality is all about sexual morality. It isn't. We have had a Leadership contest for the Tories dominated by drugs and class; we are having one for the Lib Dems which is dominated by sex. There will soon be one for the Labour Party and it's anybody's guess what irrelevant issue will dominate.
I have yet to see an any examination of the real morality of politicians. No one has had their carbon footprint examined. There has been little examination of how leading politicians of any party treat ordinary people. For me, they are much more important than who's screwing who. Watching Judge John Deed, I get very depressed at the portrayal of Senior Civil Servants of being hellbent on managing everything for convenience. To some extent it is the reality of government, but the caricature allows no room for principles, and doesn't allow that there are politicians in central and local government, supported by officials and officers who actually do want to improve the world in which we live. The debate should be about firstly, whether we agree on the aims, and secondly, whether we agree on the means and consider them practicable. That's what matters, but the media seem determined to expose the foibles of politicians or mock their personal idiosyncrasies, because it's a lot easier than getting out of Westminster Village and finding out what matters to ordinary people throughout the country and the extent to which government policies, or those proposed by Oppositions, will help or hinder us to lead a quiet life and fulfill our potential.
