The ego of politics !

" Oh ! What a tangled web we weave .....

" When we make plans to deceive ..... "


Politics is a strange business. Those chosen to represent us in the nation's parliaments usually get an elevated sense of worth. This past weeks events illustrate that point.

A party was dining at a smart restaurant when staff asked them to move to a different table because the one they were using encroached on the dance floor.
Two of that party were politicians - a man and his wife - and they objected to the request - which may or may not have been made in a pleasant manner.

Push turned to shove and the argument developed into a screaming match with threats of using political power to remove the restaurants liquor license and have staff sacked.

Such is the version presented by the staff involved. Statutory declarations were signed testifying to these events.

The dining party saw it differently - and statutory declarations were signed to give their version.

From there it all went downhill. The restaurant delivered a statement of apology to the two politicians, denying that there had been an altercation - and four of the six staff rescinded their statutory declarations.

That provoked other people dining independently and who witnessed these events to sign statutory declarations supporting the staff version.

Then came the bombshell. It was revealed that the " apology " submitted by the club had been drafted by .... one of the politicians involved.

That was too much for the leaders of the political party involved. One of the dining politicians was stripped of his ministry and the other ordered to undertake " Anger Management " instruction.

But - it didn't end there. Now the police are involved. It is a serious offence to sign an untrue statutory declaration and the penalty is a term in gaol.

Obviously - when two lots of statutory declarations describe a single event - and these give a totally opposite direction - then somebody is lying !

This will come to nothing, of course ! Politics will ensure that the police return a finding that " the truth can not be determined " and the matter will lapse.
Truth depends on facts and in a case like this the evidence rests on recollections of the event - something impossible to pin down with absolute certainty.

It has been an unwelcome incident that has tarnished the credibility of politics - and it underscores that old adage that " power corrupts ". Politicians attain power when in office - and there is a problem of ego when dealing with what they consider lesser mortals.

Hopefully, lessons have been learned.