This week, Liz Truss who was Britain's shortest serving prime minister of all time came out of the woodwork once again. But she did not emerge with a contrite apology for her absurd and ill-considered economic "plan" that caused untold damage to this nation's reputation for sound economic governance. Instead, she sought to blame others and in her blind arrogance failed to grasp that she is directly culpable for the costly damage that was caused to our economy last autumn.
"Fundamentally I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support."
What is it with politicians who seem allergic to apologising or accepting full responsibility for their mistakes?
Truss's predecessor Johnson also left office in a scornful mood as if he was still the special one he thought he was at Eton School. It wasn't his fault he was going - it was everyone else's. And now even though he remains a salaried Member of Parliament, he thinks nothing of accepting lucrative payments for lectures and book deals. The word "sorry" is not one that Johnson really understands. If he uses it at all it is with cunning qualification. "I'm sorry that you feel that way" etc..
It's the same over in America. It is likely that Trump views the word "sorry" as a sign of weakness because it is not one he would ever use himself. He's not sorry about tax evasion, dalliances with prostitutes, shady property deals or encouraging an assault on the US Capitol. He still shows no humility or acceptance with regard to the fact that he clearly lost the last presidential election.
Another Republican politician, George Santos, has not shown an ounce of contrition for his series of lies on a range of subjects from his sexuality to his family background and from his educational achievements to his business achievements or lack thereof. It is quite outrageous that this fantasist should ever be allowed to hold any kind of public office.
We deserve better leaders than a bunch of egotists who mistakenly imagine they are being strong when they refuse to apologise for their failures or their mistakes. Saying sorry and meaning it is a sign of maturity not just in everyday life but in the political sphere too.
I prefer the term pathological liar to fantasist for both Santos and Trump. A fantasist sounds like someone who writes or tells fairy tales and doesn't touch the malignant nature of these politicians.
ReplyDeleteA point well made.
DeleteMy Uncle Jack Hamilton (b. 1929) was one of those brilliantly constructive cynics.
ReplyDeleteHe saw through everything from religion to Freemasonry to Tony Blair.
Jack died before Tony was on the scene but he saw through types like Tony.
Jack would have laughed uproariously at the idea of stooges voting for David Cameron, Boris Johnson & Liz Truss.
*They have contempt for working people,* he would have said.
Jack thought it abominable that Euro ministers retired on massive pensions and that the Thatcherite ministers who sold off our public utilities, got big buck jobs in the private sector as well as their Ministry Pensions.
He would point to old ladies eking out a bare living on their State Pension with tears in his eyes.
Jack was a handsome pugnacious man who sang Puccini arias in Italian in a bel canto tenor, untrained.
He was only abashed in the presence of his two older brothers who were war heroes.
He got me reading his favourite novelist, the mysterious B. Traven who wrote The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and other enigmatic stories about the poor.
He called his older sister Mother Courage, after Brecht.
Not that it would define him or anything but what did your Uncle Jack do for a living? My Uncle Jack died in The Battle of Britain - plunging into a field in Essex.
DeleteYour Uncle Jack crashing in an Essex Field would have silenced Jack Hamilton. *They were only boys,* he said of those Battle of Britain pilots.
DeleteI made him sound bombastic. He was a shy man as my mother said.
He rebuked me for listening to Frank Sinatra - *A gangster who can't sing.*
He did a comic imitation of him singing *I couldn't sleep a wink last night.*
Jack had a fish & chip shop, later drove a black taxi cab, always nights.
The shop did well during the weeks of the first Billy Graham mission.
He satirised Billy Graham for his wealth as he did the Labour reformists.
I called him a political romantic, a utopian socialist, an impossible-ist
He liked Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, August Bebel, Karl Krauss.
I followed Ernest Bevin, Hugh Gaitskell, Richard Crossman, Denis Healey.
My recent history paperbacks would have caught his eye.
*Darkness Falling - The Strange Death of the Weimar Republic* by
Peter Walther.
*1983 - The World at the Brink* by Taylor Downing.
*Napoleon & Wellington* by Andrew Roberts.
"We the people" give these fools a platform to make idiots of themselves. we have to wake up and become informed so that we do not elect such idiots.
ReplyDeleteEasier said than done though you are of course right.
DeleteI think it's Thing 45's fault that we have George Santos, and Empty G, and Lauren Whobert, just as I blame him for your Boris and Liz.
ReplyDeleteI also see the transatlantic connection.
DeleteDo they go to a special school to learn how to act this way or is it something they are born with? A God-Given Gift. They certainly keep their lawyers busy.
ReplyDeleteAlas, you have to go back many years to find a politician sufficiently honourable to have resigned when in the wrong. Lying appears to be second nature to them, almost a requirement for the job, and this cuts across party lines too.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Though I am a Labour man, I can think of a good number of Labour politicians who were essentially self-serving.
DeleteNot accepting responsibility for one's own actions and decisions has been part of mankind for as long as our collective memory reaches. When asked about having taken the forbidden fruit, Adam said: "It wasn't me! It was her - she - the companion YOU gave me - made me eat the fruit..." ultimately not only shifting the blame from himself to Eve but to God. Of course this scene is an allegory, but goes to show how far back it goes, this problem with responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point - well-argued.
DeleteBlaming someone else is the answer to all mistakes made by those in government and the limelight, and outrageous lies are accepted as the truth.
ReplyDeleteIt's like they are playing mind games in which honesty and responsibility are irritants.
DeleteThe four politicians you mention were or are appalling. While conservative politicians seem to do appalling so much better than the progressive side of politics, it too is not immune and Blair has a lot to answer for, especially in international areas.
ReplyDeleteYour next PM, Sir Keif Stammer is keeping his head down as he should. The incumbents are going to lose office rather than him winning. PM Sumak doesn't seem to do much really, except trying to supress union protests.
Multi-millionaire Blair continues to smirk about Iraq and how essentially he did the right thing. I used to admire him but not any more. There were no weapons of mass destruction. At least Harold Wilson kept Britain out of the pointless war in Vietnam. Sir Keir Starmer seems like a very decent, trustworthy man even though Tory newspapers have sought to denigrate and label him.
DeleteLiz was left wing and went on CND marches then she joined the Tories and that was that.
ReplyDeleteHer left wing parents are probably still embarrassed about her but keep up a polite facade of support.
DeleteJayCee left a comment on My Quiet Life In Suffolk YP. Glad she is getting better.
ReplyDeleteWe need some humble public servants.
ReplyDeleteI've decided that anyone who wants to be a politician is probably an insane narcissist so...there you go.
ReplyDeleteNot relevant to this post, but I just wanted to reply to your comment on my blog...All our names are fictional, as I explain in the "About Me" to the right of my post, to keep our anonymity. Even being married to an alcoholic brings me shame and embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteOkay. Now I understand better ADDY. Thanks.
DeleteThis is a desperate attempt to rehabilitate her image and give herself a political future. I think there is a school of thought that says you should never apologize, which I don't get, because a genuine apology makes me respect a person MORE, not less.
ReplyDeleteSame for me. For example, I admired you more for apologising about using the term "sidewalk" in your blog.
DeleteIt's depressing, Neil.
ReplyDeleteIs that my new nickname - Depressing Neil?
DeleteWell said, Professor!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. Now make sure you have submitted your 5000 word paper by Tuesday of next week.
DeleteFrom my perspective, I blame the media for some of this. If a sitting president/prime minister ever admits fault and says they are sorry, they are seen as weak, stupid, ineffectual, etc. as they get roasted by the media. I also think we ourselves are to blame too as we can't admit that mistakes happen to everyone and always pretend like we could do better if in their situation. We also tend to want to avoid embarrassment which is why Biden is getting roasted for his "transparency" in telling the public about classified documents found months after the fact.
ReplyDeleteDo you think we always had politicians like this? Perhaps we did but they were just not examined as much. Trump was and is very ignorant and uncouth. He doesn't read books and lied about his academic achievements. Maybe that's why rednecks and the underclass admired him.
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