Monday, February 12, 2007
Cameron drugs row
It's no great secret that I'm perhaps not quite in full accord with the Conservative party and the policies of David Cameron.
This weekend we had the spectacle of, the holy media as moral guardian of our nation, informing us that David Cameron smoked some cannabis whilst at Eaton. Why is this relevant to anything is a mystery to me, that he or any other politician may have smoked or taken some drug at some point in their lives is irrelevant. Of course if had an ongoing drug habit that would be different, but let's face some facts, drugs, including illegal ones are fairly widely available. Drugs are bound to be an object of curiosity to people and there will be a temptation to try some no doubt, at some point in most people's lives. That someone does try some drugs in no way disqualifies them from public office or makes them unfit to lead a political party, or makes it hypercritical if at some later point they argue that illegal drugs should remain illegal.
This issue should be a non-story, we expect our politicians to (generally) be honest, but in return for some honesty, the media shouldn't hound and make issues out of things that are irrelevant. Whilst David Cameron has (in the past) never denied or admitted taking drugs, the reason no doubt is precisely because of this kind of stupid media storm, it would have be so much better that when asked he could say: "yes occasionally in the past I've taken some drugs".
In order to lead the way, I'll put my hand up to this and: "yes occasionally in the past I've taken some drugs". I wouldn't advocate or encourage anyone else to do so, it was something that I did at that time. I have no excuses, but I didn't harm anyone (and I doubt any great harm was done to me).
Let's see the media put me on the front page.
This weekend we had the spectacle of, the holy media as moral guardian of our nation, informing us that David Cameron smoked some cannabis whilst at Eaton. Why is this relevant to anything is a mystery to me, that he or any other politician may have smoked or taken some drug at some point in their lives is irrelevant. Of course if had an ongoing drug habit that would be different, but let's face some facts, drugs, including illegal ones are fairly widely available. Drugs are bound to be an object of curiosity to people and there will be a temptation to try some no doubt, at some point in most people's lives. That someone does try some drugs in no way disqualifies them from public office or makes them unfit to lead a political party, or makes it hypercritical if at some later point they argue that illegal drugs should remain illegal.
This issue should be a non-story, we expect our politicians to (generally) be honest, but in return for some honesty, the media shouldn't hound and make issues out of things that are irrelevant. Whilst David Cameron has (in the past) never denied or admitted taking drugs, the reason no doubt is precisely because of this kind of stupid media storm, it would have be so much better that when asked he could say: "yes occasionally in the past I've taken some drugs".
In order to lead the way, I'll put my hand up to this and: "yes occasionally in the past I've taken some drugs". I wouldn't advocate or encourage anyone else to do so, it was something that I did at that time. I have no excuses, but I didn't harm anyone (and I doubt any great harm was done to me).
Let's see the media put me on the front page.
