Tuesday 11 September 2018

Disillusionment.

Reading about the so-called exploits of Boris in today's Times (not that I had much time for him before - he does not share my political views - or rather I suppose it should be the other way round),
I just wonder how we can trust any politician who gets up to such shenanigans.   Then I began to think about 'great' politicians from the past - far too many to mention - who got up to similar antics in their private lives.   To me it all smacks of 'how can we trust anyone who lives this kind of life in anything else they say or do?'

Maybe I am old fashioned - and I am sure you are all going to tell me to grow up because being unfaithful to one's spouse has always been in fashion - many even go so far as to say we are not built to be monogamous.   All I can say is that as far as I am concerned, when on has children it is important to at least try and be a role model for them and this is not a good start.

Reading on in the article it talks of  'slipping down the hotel corridor at dead of night' as though it is the done thing at any kind of gathering of like-minded people be it party conferences, works meetings of some kind - they're all 'at it'.

Alright, tell me I live in cloud cuckoo land and things are no different from what they have always been.   I will reply that I for one have not led that kind of life and it has never for one moment stopped either of my marriages from being very happy ones.

31 comments:

Derek Faulkner said...

You don't live in "cloud cuckoo land" Pat, you have simply been happy with your life and the way you have carried it out. However, as someone who has been involved in several such shenanigans in his life, the last about 30 years ago, I would say they were fun and exciting, although one or two didn't do me any favours.

Rachel Phillips said...

Reading Lytton Strachey's biography at the moment I have come across Asquith frolicking with Ottoline whatsit and Virginia Stephen (later Woolf)who both attended such parties topless. He was a frequent visitor to Bloomsbury party nights whilst he was Prime Minister leading up to the Great War.

angryparsnip said...

I am disillusioned also.
Yes you have been happy with your life as Dereck said but I did not have a good marriage and was very upset at what my x was. Disappointment when the reality of his true nature and my own realization that he was not was expected or believed to be.
We should be better than our base nature.
I grew up with the notion that is everyone is doing it that does not always make it righ fashion or not.

cheers, parsnip and badger

jinxxxygirl said...

Well Pat if you are in a 'cloud cuckoo' i'm there with you.. I have no idea who you are talking about as i don't watch much news.. I do not like to tolerate that in my politicians although i don't see as we have much choice.. It sets such a bad example for the country as a whole.. I feel people in the public eye should be held to higher standards... although i think that point of view is fast becoming old fashioned... Hugs! deb

Hard up Hester said...

I love the saying that politicians and nappies should both be changed regularly and both for the same reason!

Derek Faulkner said...

To Rachel I would suggest she read "Frances Partridge the Biography" by Anne Chisholm a great insight into the lives of the Bloomsbury Group - a group that I've always found very interesting.

Charles said...

If you want great leaders you need to put up with their foibles. It does not mean you have to like them, I think it is very warming that Churchill was thrown out after WW2, everyone who voted had lived though it and they knew what they were doing. We should use our leaders for their talents and dispose of them when they are past their best, most of the current batch are well past their sell by date.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I would be less nauseous if the thought of that gelatinous mound of blubber creeping semi clothed down hotel corridors

justjill said...

I am totally with you Weave. This sort of behaviour makes me nauseous. Just because some of the great and good followed the same path is no excuse.

Catriona said...

Totally agree with your views and I keep wondering what the attraction is for the women who help him to be adulterous!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

I am really interested in your replies - keep them coming.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I love Hester's saying!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Yes Rachel - I have read it too. The Bloomsbury Group have always interested me, not for their various affairs (both heterosexual and homosexual)so much as their incredible talent.

Sierra Sue said...

I pop in and read your blog whenever I get a chance--
I totally understand this one !
BUT... look what the my poor country is dealing with !
Mr. T is beyond words in his actions.
His supporters say whatever he did before he was Pres. doesnt matter. I say it sure as HE(( does matter. It's proof of his character--If he plays around on his wife/family whats to stop him from thinking he can do anything to this country.
Hang on, dear lady, there are many, here across the pond, who share your feelings !!

Tom Stephenson said...

Boris Johnson's extra-marital shenanigans are nothing compared to everything else as far as I am concerned. Anyone who marries someone like him ought to know what they deserve in the long run.

Heather said...

I am in total agreement with you Pat. However, I do think that if there was just one politician who demonstrated that they were strong enough to get this country back on it's feet I might just turn a blind eye to 'after hours' shenanigans.

marlane said...

When ever I hear of someone having an affair I think of someone with problems. I think of someone who needs a thrill to be happy in life, and someone who disregards how their significant other and family are impacted. If a marriage is not working then get out of it. By the way married twice 25 years ended in death of spouse, 15 years to second and still great.

Joanne Noragon said...

T is crazier than the rest of us put together.

Cro Magnon said...

I like to think that we choose our politicians for their brains, rather than their evening activities, but sometimes I think the two go hand in hand. Personally I am more disturbed by the Corbyn/Abbott affair, than by Boris.

Rachel Phillips said...

Boris and his wife split up some time ago. They have now announced they are divorcing. That is all.

thelma said...

Sordid details though are the essence of newspaper waffle - the answer is not to read them;)
Boris is a jester and I do not want him for PM and for me that is all that matters. His wife should get a fair settlement through the court and custody of the children and he can get on with his lame affairs, pushing himself even further away from the leadership - hurrah!

Rachel Phillips said...

I know nothing about divorce law but Boris's children are all grown up and adults.

Derek Faulkner said...

Another good book on the delightful Bloomsbury Group that I have is "Carrington - A Life of Dora Carrington 1893-1932". She was described by Ottoline Morrell as "a strange wild beast". They were a fascinating group of talented and free loving people.

Ivy said...

In theory an unfaithful husband doesn't have to be a disastrous politician and I am liberal enough to dissociate (if this is the right English word for it?) private and professional lives.
However, I don't think adultry isn't the way to treat your wife/husband.

thelma said...

Rachel, went and read up the Sun and found out that his children were grown-up but must have lived through the rows and arguments of their parents, Lara called Johnson a 'selfish bastard'.
Derek surely the era of 'free loving' was in the 1960s, the Bloomsbury group just played around earlier because they could and it was avante garde at the time. Today we have a totally different set of what is right or wrong, and good freedom of expression.
Sex is good as long as it doesn't hurt others.

Rachel Phillips said...

I pointed out their age because you talked about mother getting custody.

Rachel Phillips said...

I recall Blair trying to limit damage by giving orders to Robin Cook, his then Foreign Secretary, to hide his affair with his secretary and instructed Alistair Campbell to deal with it. I am not sure what Robin Cook thought about the interference from Blair or Campbell in his personal life.

Rachel Phillips said...

And was Robin Cook murdered just like Dr David Kelly?

Derek Faulkner said...

In answer to Thelma, yes the 1960's did see in the age of free loving and as I was in my late teens/early 20's then, I enjoyed what was offered. Perhaps unfortunately, that mind-set never really left me and is why I continued to have the odd foray and have always enjoyed reading about people such as the Bloomsbury Group. Your last line says it all.

A Heron's View said...

The moral code has changed a great deal in the last thirty years. Fidelity in marriage too has changed, in that some couples have agreements to be non monogamous.
Politicians are people in the ordinary sense in that they are no better or worse in their private lives than the rest of us, thus we ought not set them up on a pedestal or expect them to behave differently.

Rambler said...

The more I read or learn about Boris, the less I like him and to be unfaithful to his wife must mean he's untrustworthy. Surely he lied to her about his goings-on?
So how could he be suitable to be our Prime Minister? A liar, a cheat and obviously totally unrepentant, as shown by his eagerness for publicity.
I wish, before any election, we could be furnished with in-depth reports on all candidates, showing what qualities they would bring to such important offices. That might sort them out!!!