The revelation of John Prescott's bulimia is not to be laughed at. Bulimia is a serious condition and he is to be praised for his decision to be honest about it. Most people believe bulimia only afflicts young girls who don't want to put on weight. It doesn't. It can affect anyone, as John Prescott's case clearly confirms. Prescott is clearly mildly embarrassed about it, which makes his decision to be open even more praiseworthy. Bulimia is like alcoholism. You can never be cured. It never completely goes away. But the first step to managing it is to recognise you suffer from it.In some ways, his bulimia partly explains his affair with Tracey Temple, and no doubt others. We all think of politicians as supremely confident and outgoing people who wouldn't recognise shyness and self doubt if they hit them in the face. Many politicians are far from confident. Some are physically sick before making a public speech. Some have to force themselves in front of a TV camera and have serious problems overcoming their nerves. In short, they are just as human as the rest of us.
John Prescott always had a chip on his shoulder - some would say he had chips on both shoulders - about his background. He always felt that Tories were looking down on him. No doubt some were, just as they did on his own side. And it was this inate chippiness which no doubt fuelled his self doubt and his obsessive devotion to his work. In the end something had to give.
The story of Des Browne's difficulties tell a similar tale. It's easy to score cheap party political points and say that both these cases prove that they're just not up to the job, but it misses the main point. We should acknowledge that sometimes we put so much pressure on top politicians that they break.
85 comments:
"Bulimia is like alcoholism. You can never be cured. It never completely goes away. But the first step to managing it is to recognise you suffer from it."
Please please please don't perpetuate that lie Iain! Alcoholism is NOT a disease and alcoholics CAN go back to normal social drinking. The disease discourse is actually hugely damaging because it prevents people from seeking help. Those who realise that there are treatment programs out there where they're not going to be told they can never drink again are more likely to seek help. Alcholism is a psychological condition not a disease. Alcoholics on these programs are taught how they can avoid trigger behaviours and return to social drinking. Orford's work on addiction as an excessive appetite which can be curtailed is particularly helpful.
An insightful posting Ian. As you say it is a ghastly illness and indicates how unsure John Prescott was and indeed some of the demands placed on him. He is of the old school and resignation probably never entered his mind. It may also explain why he struck a protestor. He was subject to ridicule by many who presumed their words were good natured teasing. I thought some of the comment directed towards him was hurtful and offensive. This must, over time strip away confidence.
Oh for the days when he was around livening up proceedings. It is certainly dull without him.
Regards Jane
Well done on this one Iain. Shame on anyone who makes a joke about it. Mocking Prescott on this one and you mock everyone with an eating disorder. My wife battles with bulimia and after 30 years with the condition it looks as if it will soon end her life. We cannot discuss it with friends and this adds to the shame which leads to lower self-esteem.
As bulimics throw up their food, they tend to be on the very thin side. Diana was a bulimic.
John Prescott's a trencherman. If he threw up his meals, he would be thin. He's not. He's a fatso.
I can't believe you wrote this, Iain. In fact, I'm trying to work out whether it was tongue-in-cheek (rather than finger down throat).
If he forced himself to vomit after eating, he would not be fat. He didn't, and he is. And no, it does not not "partly explain his affair with Tracey Temple". He was simply exercising his droits de seigneur.
"We should acknowledge that sometimes we put so much pressure on top politicians that they break."
Prescott was a top politician? Hello? He was in his position not out of merit but because he knows where bodies are buried.
Iain, I cannot believe you are such a softy, and so gullible. There's a reason behind this announcement. It's in preparation for something. I think we'll realise what it is in a couple of weeks.
Men are terribly gullible. Juliam? Auntie Flo'? Cassandra? Susan? Vienna Woods?
I know you have heart of gold and ii's Sunday, but come on Iain.
In many cases, the pressure arises from the problem of politicians not wishing, or not being allowed, to tell the truth and subsequently becoming trapped in nightmares of their own making.
Hence Browne's problems surface just when holes start appearing in his story about the Iran fiasco. Are we really expected to believe that it would compromise security to have a copy of the position where the RN sailors were when they were intercepted? Iran already know, because their people were there.
In the case of Prezza, he is actually trying to profit from his 'disability' by using the relevation to publicise his memoirs that the ST are about to serialise. And if he had cares about being inadequate, it is because he was. He was a minister for 10 years and will have left no legacy, save for scandal and his predeliction for the perks of office.
I think you made a typo there, because I read that last line as "We put so much pressure on top politicians that they break".
"We" (whoever that means) put surprisingly little pressure on politicians - nearly 80% of us can't be bothered to vote.
Rather it is the politicians who put pressure on themselves, as they adopt hypocritical policies, spin and misspeak. An honest independent politician has little to fear, but an MP with any conscience who has to spin the party line will put himself as he/she fears being caught out.
'The revelation of John Prescott's bulimia are [sic] not to be laughed at.'
Prescott should be treated with exactly the same consideration that he has shown for us. That is, none whatever.
What a load of cobblers!
The fact is that politics is a pressured job, everybody knows this. People who aren't up to it should seek gainful employment elsewhere.
I don't much like Prescot, nothing to do with his background, just purely because of his incompetence.
The fact that he continued despite his failings only illustrate that he lacked insight too. For anybody with a hint of common sense it should have been a sign to go.
Who suffered - Britain.
He's a brave man. His confession is refreshing and I agree with Iain that we should welcome it. Those of you who think being an MP's a picnic clearly have no idea what goes on in British politics.
Surely if bulimia is such a debilitating condition Prescott shoudl hhave told his doctors and resigned on health grounds.
I'm sorry. If he was really ill, he should have taken medical advice.
To claim that you've had a dreadfull illness because of stress.. and do nothing about it -- an dtell everyone in your book.. smacks to me of selfharm.
"As bulimics throw up their food, they tend to be on the very thin side. Diana was a bulimic."
Once again Verity you show how stupid you are. Bulimics also eat normal meals and so can be of a normal weight or bigger. They do not, to use your enlightened phrase, "throw up" after every meal. Eating disorders are many a varied and bulimia, like say autism, covers a wide spectrum of sub-conditions.
Now Verity, run along an let yourself become consumed by your own bitterness.
What a load of rubbish. Prescott is trying to sell a book.
Next you will do a favourable review and invite us to buy a copy.
Prescott is slime. He has cost this country dear. Blair has a lot to answer for with this appointment.
Fat b------- couldn't even do bulimia properly. Incompetent bufoon.
You say that John Prescott had a chip on his shoulder.
If that was the case, it was only because one had missed his mouth when he was shoveling another handful in.
No sympathy vote here, sorry...
April 20, 2008 4:22 PM The giggly little tick, Verity Manqué. You're not clever enough to imitate me, you vacuous little parasito.
Hmmm - sorry, but I find it very hard to feel any sympathy for this over-sized oaf!
Frankly, he makes me sick - which is apparently what he does to himself as well!
You are going soft. He has a heart of stone.
Harry Ramsden - Lol!
Anonymous 4:35 No. You forgot to through ADD into the pot.
Prescott's got a book to sell, and it will sell as well as Alastair Campbell's book, which basically didn't sell at all, except to libraries, schools and Labour organisations.
So you've got to be clever to be able to write like "Verity"?
Clever isn't the first adjective that would come to mind...
I've got as much right to call myself verity as you have, princess.
"John Prescott always had a chip on his shoulder.."
....but, I suspect, not for long! :)
"Mocking Prescott on this one and you mock everyone with an eating disorder."
Bathetic twaddle! I'm sure some bulimics are very nice people with an unfortunate problem. Prescott is a vile, greedy pig who deserves no-one's sympathy...
"Prescott should be treated with exactly the same consideration that he has shown for us. That is, none whatever."
Indeed.
"Those of you who think being an MP's a picnic clearly have no idea what goes on in British politics."
Really...? There's no shortage of applicants queueing up to stick their nose in the trough though.
Tom Moore you are wrong about alcoholism. Alcoholics can not go back to 'social drinking'. That's the old lie of 'I'll just have a few' then it carries on and on. They have to stop drinking alcohol completely, once they've got the addiction they can't drink in moderation anymore.
He's been a greedy man all his life, and now all he cares about are his book sales.
After reading the comments section, Iain, I am reminded of something.
Those of us who are actively involved in politics and know our opponents, will not make nasty comments about a story like this.
I admire John Prescott for having the guts to reveal this information. I have always been very critical of him on political matters, however, last year when I watched him do a presentation at the school where I am a governor, he was great in front of the children. There is a time when party politics has to be put aside.
i'm sorry, maybe i shouldn't have, but i laughed out loud in the supermarket this morning when i saw that headline.
yes it's a very bad thing, and can cause people to die, but Prescott is a big man, and doesn't outwardly seem to have affected him in the way it affects most women.
i may be missing the point here, but if they'd have run the story on april 1st, everyone would have thought they were joking.
I notice from the newspapers that the House of Commons doctor referred Prescott to a consultant. They they have their own medics explains why the service we have is such rubbish.
Who ate all the pies?
Honk!
Who ate all the pies?
Honk!
You fat bastard
You fat bastard
Who ate all the pies?
Honk honk!
I'll thcream and I'll thcream until I'm thick.
The former manager of Stoke City FC used to be anorexic. We all laughed when we heard that, because Stoke fans are renowned for being fat morons. (Ask a fan of any other team).
"At the very worst, I was only eating 10 pies, 20 buckets of lard, 12 KFCs and 25 burgers a day". And all the Sjoke fans were horrified that someone can starve himself to death in such a way :)
I myself follow Stoke's vastly superior rivals, Port Vale, who have been having a few temporary setbacks but are fighting back now.
Andrew Allison said:
"I admire John Prescott for having the guts to reveal this information."
This is surreal. Whilst John Prescott's gut is something to wonder at, it's certainly not to be admired.
"We should acknowledge that sometimes we put so much pressure on top politicians that they break."
With great respect Iain that is absolute nonsense. It is not we who exert pressure on them, it is they who exert pressure on us. These people have spent many years in the dogged pursuit of their goal - power. That some of them are not up to it is obvious, but that is not the electorate's fault or problem. Nor should it be. Pressure, of whatever sort, goes with the territory.
If the job is too much for them to bear then let them stand aside. If they do not do so we are right to assume that they wish to continue in their lucrative positions. In recent decades only one has had the sense to stand down on the basis that she did not feel she was capable of doing the job. At least Estelle Morris had enough sense and integrity to take dignified action and retire gracefully.
Perhaps some of her colleagues should take stock, before their illnesses become the nation's problem.
So that is four thousand quid literally down the shitter!
At least we now know why he claimed £4,000 a year for food on expenses.
Will chapter 2 of his book be "I was a sex addict with a doctor's note so don't bring that up"?
Chapter 3 "I was an aggressive bully because I got away with it".
Chapter 4 "I failed in all my ministerial jobs because of the the incompetent Civil Service."
Prescott deceived and caused a lot of harm to a lot of people. The news about his bulimia, which, in his case, some might call coarseness and greed, looks like a pathetic attempt, assisted by the media, to garner public sympathy.
Yeah, a bully with bulimia.
Iain - this is just a cynical attempt to rehabilitate himself, after the way he disgraced himself in office.
But the worst part of it is the real damage John Prescott did to our country.
He's yesterdays man - who like a number of Labour politicians used politics to aspire to office that they could never have achieved on merit. They are motivate by greed and selfishness
- both of which lie at the root of socialism.
bkzkbxjOh dear is Boris' campaign going this badly.
Sunday, has seen the most nonsense anti labour headlines in years...must be in panic mode
Prescott
Sex snooping
when there is a vaccuum, the sunday right wing press always deliver.
The Vaccuum being Silence from Tory HQ
I'm amazed there's so much sympathy for him. It is almost as if it been forgotten how uniquely powerful and unsackable he was ODPM, and how he misused that power. People are mocking Prescott, not bulimia sufferers in general. If he had been an alcoholic or drug addict it would have been the same.
Several have pointed out the calculated timing. He's exploiting the stigma to sell his book, and the title is a smirking reference to hitting the protester. No hint of shame there either:
"I've never confessed it before," he writes in his book My Story: Pulling No Punches. "
Edwina Curry went public over her affair with Major for the same reason.
Iain points out that politicians are only human and the senior ones under enormous pressure, but to quote Sir Humphrey:
'It's your job and you asked for it, Prime Minister.'
April 20, 2008 4:52 PM cheap plastic imitation Verity:
No. Actually, you haven't. It's identity theft and you are a freeloading passenger on a name that someone else has built, you second-rater. Anyone could do it. But they don't.
Re the subject of the thread, well said, Juliam!
Andrew Allison writes: "I admire John Prescott for having the guts to reveal this information." Well, he certainly has the guts.
"There is a time when party politics has to be put aside." No,there isn't. He is a vicious, mean-spirited bastard who is on the team that has embarked on the destruction of Britain. I wouldn't give a toss - so to speak - even if the story were true.
Iain is a silly softy. He thinks the best of everyone.
this is complete bollocks!was it bulimia that forced prezza to trough £600,000 p.a in salary and perks.'chip on his shoulder'- more like a hunderedweight sack of cash!
Typical labour man of the people.
Three things:
- All those making snide comments about Prescott's weight need should resign their membership of the human race- what ever you think of him as a politician its a disease- are you going to go after cancer suffers next?
- For all the fuss most of those commenting make over the Labour party's rather moronic wishes for Thatcher's death this seems not so much hypocritical as totally incomprehensible
- Finally, the 'if you can't stand the pressure get out of the kitchen comments' how many great leaders have has massive flaws such as this? Churchill liked a drink and it has been suggested suffered from depression, for which at the time there was no real treatment- Hitler by comparison was a perfect model of health...I doubt many people would have preferred Britain to switch leaders...
A shrink on the News just said that men make up 10% of the bulimia population in his clinic, but he had NEVER seen a man of two-pies age having it.
The shrink didn't say two pies was lying but if he could he would have said that two-pies had forgotten to vomit.
we are all verity now
Prescott has had advice from His publisher and Labour spin doctors.
He has been told that the bulimia problem will help book sales and serialisation in a national newspaper. It will partly make up for the fact that there will be no juicy stories about Blair, Brown and Tracy.
The revelations will also help his tarnished image; in the future he hopes he will be seen as a victim, who will now be dedicating his life to helping fellow-sufferers.
The fake Verity said, "We are all Verity now."
Actually, that was rather funny.
Chrome Diplomat - You seem not to have understood the comments preceding your own. You sniff that those who mocked should resign their membership of the human race. Gosh! What a silly, uppity thing to say! Can you understand that no one here has mocked genuine, as in GENUINE bulimia sufferers? Your final paragraph was incomprehensible in the light of the comments preceding your own.
if only Prescott had kept the chip on his shoulder instead of putting a load of them on his plate
Really Iain, you're being far too nice. What a load of self-justifying rubbish Prescott has come out with and for what - to sell his book! You don't imagine he would have said all this if he wasn't trying to sell something, do you? Money is all that matters here.
"We put so much pressure on top politicians that they break"?
Point one - nobody makes anyone become an MP, they're all self-selecting, once they can get the Committee to agree with them. Prescott was very keen to hang on to Hull, wasn't he - never felt the urge to stand down and spend more time with his family, and deal with his alleged problems. He even tried to get his son on the gravy train by getting him nominated for his seat.
Point two - what pressure was Prescott under? Found it too difficult managing carrying-on with his secretary AND filling in his expenses claims, did he. This is the man, remember, who was paying no council tax at all whilst commenting sanctimoniously that 84 yr old ladies (existing only on their Retirement Pensions) had to "make a contribution". He was claiming on the Hull house and allowing the taxpayer to also pay for the Admiralty flat - gosh, what a mistake to make, how did that happen, I wonder?
Troughing away at our expense whilst doing absolutely nothing of any use for anybody. Managed to get on some gravy train EU committee since he stood down as DPM, I see - more lovely exes to claim there, no doubt.
No Iain, I'll reserve my sympathy for the poor bloody people of England, who've been keeping this clown in such luxury all these years.
I went over to The Mail on Sunday to see what their readers thought, and some of the 92 comments posted so far are very funny. One man said, "A fat bulimic! Must be the world's first!"
Someone else said he must be the first bulimic to stuff himself and then forget to vomit.
Someone else said if he throws up and is STILL that size, he must eat enough for a family of four.
Someone else said, "Bulimia. Even that's not working for him."
On the whole, a bunch of hard hearted Hannahs, most of them male.
Congratulations to Two Jags on knocking the 10p tax story and Jonah Brown incidents off today's front pages. Mission accomplished, now back to the pies.
bebopper said:
"in the future he hopes he will be seen as a victim, who will now be dedicating his life to helping fellow-sufferers"
How?
By clearing their plates for them, before they have a chance to tuck in?
That would pretty much fit in with John Prescott's view of public service.
Still, I shouldn't speak ill of one of my best customers....
I think this just proves that the health service has deteriorated under Labour.
Prescott: Dr, last night I ate 3 portions of Fish and Chips, 5 pork pies and 2 cans of condensed milk. It made me sick.
Dr: You are all that then was sick - you must be bulimic!
Prescott: Thank you Dr, for a moment I thought it was just that I had overindulged again.
http://www.order-order.com/2008/04/pass-sick-bag-pauline.html
Would seem to express my views on Prescott's convenient "bulimia"
How being a fat bastard explains his need to shag his underlings I don't know.
Verity:
- Please explain to me exactly what you evidence is for suggesting Prescott is lying about the condition other than you seem to think that fat people can't have Bulimia, which, it would seem is totally uniformed?
I wasn't trying to be uppity- simply suggesting that perhaps showing a modicum of compassion
As for the final point- I appologise if it was a bit convoluted- but the point was that those who are saying that if stress made prescott ill he should have quit would be unlikely to have made the same arguments about the likes of Churchill or any number of other politicians (please note I'm not saying Prescott is comparable in terms of leadership to Churchill, just that he's not the first person to have suffered due to political life).
OK, I take it back. Since the usual howling commuscum are shrieking at me, I shall make an admission:
I had a fling with JP, and he broke it off before I was ready.
Are you happy now that you've humiliated me? I'm off to vom my lunch, you unfeeling bastards.
I'm Verity
Wasn't Prescott putting the maximum £400 a month food bill on expenses? Looks like a case of bulimia on the tax payer.
verity said...
"OK, I take it back.....Are you happy now that you've humiliated me? I'm off to vom my lunch, you unfeeling bastards."
You can't be the real Verity. She NEVER withdraws an erroneous comment or unfounded accusation. Also, she doesn't do humiliation.
There is a problem of reality management here.
A friend comes to you. Over the years he has been alternately fun and irritating. You were hoping you could drop him but it was not as easy as that.
"I have had bulimia for years" he admits. You think "That explains a lot". He always seemed confident to the point of arrogance.He now sits before you, vulnerable and weak.
What would your reaction to this news be?
My first reaction would be, "Why didn't you tell me. I might not have been able to help, but at least you would know I understood and cared".
So why is it different with Prescott? Is he not made of flesh like the rest of us (even a lot of flesh, and fat)? In castigating Prescott we are conflating the public and private man, and in this case, his problem was never going to be in conflict with his public life. It cannot have had a substantive bearing on his job. You cannot say the same about the Tracey fiasco, but in this case you can. It was his own private hell. He is human after all.
He was always known as a "Channel Ferry Bar Steward". That is unfair. I once worked as a kitchen porter and I would rather resent being described as such now.
You have to look at reality. The reality is that Prescott was at the heart of the most despicable lying government in history. For that he should rot in hell. But not for being human. Not for his hidden, very private demons.
Chrome Diplomat -
1. I haven't got a modicum of compassion for this garbage bag (L).
2. "those who are saying that if stress made prescott ill he should have quit would be unlikely to have made the same arguments about the likes of Churchill...".
I haven't seen a single comment in which it has been suggested that "stress" (except the stress of the possibility of being found out) made Prescott ill. I contend that fat trenchermen in their sixties do not suffer from bulimia.
Churchill was running a country during a war. Prescott was running a croquet game and what I suppose we must term "an affair" while plotting to overrun England's green spaces with little boxes for immigrants and welfare beneficiaries to live in. Against the will of the electorate.
Over on Guido's, Kill 'm all. Let God sort 'em out suggests that Prescott is suffering from a hitherto poorly researched affliction called Pie Retention.
Bog off the lot of you.
I am a man
Iain - the guy is a proven liar. this disgraceful, craven politician is trying to sell possibly the most boring book of all time.
what a twat he is - cant even get thin propery.
Chrome Diplomat,
"Please explain to me exactly what you evidence is for suggesting Prescott is lying about the condition other than you seem to think that fat people can't have Bulimia, which, it would seem is totally uniformed".
1. He is claiming this to help sell his book. This might be a co-incidence; it might be a cynical attempt to manipulate public opinion. His career would suggest the latter.
2. Whilst being fat and bulimic are not mutually exclusive, this is a form that differs so markedly from the type that Diana had (where low self esteme causes the sufferer to hate food to the extent that it makes them physically sick) that perhaps it should have a different name. Glutony perhaps?
3. There is a modern trend to label vice as illnesses, in an attempt to portray the sinner as the victim. Socialists do this for criminals, who cannot in their opinion be both poor and bad. Teachers do this for stupid kids, calling them dyslexic, and lazy disruptive ones claim to have ADD. This neatly exonerates everyone for their behaviour and blames it all on their genes or other factors beyond their control. This is not to say that there is not some truth in some of these conditions but that the vast majority of 'suffers' are simply jumping on the victimhood bandwagon. The doctors I know rate the genuine claimants as a tiny percentage of the true ones. Which group is Prescott likely to be in?
Verity, disbelieving Prescott isn't being hard hearted. Believing him is being soft headed. Every ounce of sympathy expended on him is some not expended on somebody else. If you really want to be caring, do something nice for somebody you know. Beware of recreational empathising, which is a self-indulgence and just as much of a sin as being hard hearted.
Could someone enlighten me:
Just why was it necessary for Mr Prescott to make this revelation? In what way has it assisted our understanding of politics, or the history of the Labour Movement, or the history of the last 11 years?
Whatever the truth of the bulimia claim, discussing such matters in public is pathetic and demeaning. I am seriously depressed by the utter lack of discretion and dignity displayed by people in the public eye.
Prescott reminds me of those fatties whom you never see eating, but who undoubtedly gorge their wobbling fat faces full of garbage the remainder of the time. "It's my glands," they blubber through their flabby chops. No it's not, fatties - if it were your "glands", then statistically, a good few lard-arses ought to have wobbled weepingly out of Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Belsen in 1945. I mean, if one's engorged body is not the consequence of excess calorie intake, then the KZ-Essplan ought to have had no effect on a substantial number of inmates, nicht wahr?
But it didn't. Because it isn't medical - it's just filthy, swinish, gluttonous greed. Who was it said that free food tastes better than paid-for? If it wasn't Fatty Prescott, it should have been, the greedy oafish socialist swordsman.
Frankly, the only interest I have in Fatso's weight problems is in relation to whether, when the evil fat shit is finally publicly crucified, we need to put a few extra nails through his flabby extremities to hold his bloated mass securely in place on his cross for the week or so it will take him to suffocate.
'If you don't like the heat stay out of the kitchen'.
I have no sympathy for him.
WW- I cannot believe your gullibility.
Anonymous 7:47 Thank you. You are not gullible.
Scary Biscuit writes "Verity, disbelieving Prescott isn't being hard hearted. Believing him is being soft headed. Every ounce of sympathy expended on him is some not expended on somebody else."
This is possibly the most incomprehensible comment I have ever read on a blog. I have never before been accused of erring on the side of compassion.
" If you really want to be caring, do something nice for somebody you know." Thanks for the tip. I'll weave them a peace basket.
Judith, I'd be depressedby this public "confession" if I believed it to be true because, like you, I don't want politicians and stars forcing me to share their inner lives.
But odd that, in the decade of his high profile, during his late sixties, he managed to keep this affliction out of the public eye. I don't remember people attending banquets that he attended comment, for example, on John Prescott constantly dashing off to the loo after consuming a huge plateful of nosh?
He's trying to make himself interesting and sympathetic to sell his book which will, frankly, follow his dinner down the toilet. It won't sell. He was never in power. He had a toy job. And for sure there more is money from other sources in not revealing where the bodies are buried.
The book will be remaindered within weeks of publication. As Cherie Blair's book was. And Alastair Campbell's went down the tubes, too. Labour voters are not, in the main, readers.
I am on the side of "its all a ploy to sell my book and ignore the shagging my secretary episode - not to mention all the other treating women like shit stories"
You are indeed to nice Iain.
Prescott overeat and threw up a few times ... THATS not buima. Bulima is when you eat a bit and throw up ALL the time.
Quite frankly there are so many labour politicians that make me want to vomit every mealtime is becoming a nightmare.
John Prescott makes shock announcement from Downing Street:
http://www.westbournemouthukip.com/toons.htm
OK, If it is so tough being a politician or a Cabinet Minister,where are all the top bankers, lawyers, FTSE 100 company directors who have cracked in the same way as Des Browne or John Prescott?
The simple answer is that there aren't many (any?), because those professions filter out the weaklings before they get to the top.
If Prescott had an inferiority complex, that was no doubt due to his inferiority.
"We should acknowledge that sometimes we put so much pressure on top politicians that they break."
True. But in the case of Prezzie and Dez we expect more. They both put themselves up for up for public service and both failed.
And Two Jags just happens to release this statement to a Sunday newspaper. This wouldn't be the same Sunday rag that's bought serialisation rights for his book, would it?
Sorry, I don't believe Prescott's fairy tale. I've no doubt that he stuffed himself until he was sick - but that's known as gluttony, Iain, not bulimia.
This is just yet another act of self publicity - and no doubt a smokescreen from the £4000 Prescott scrounged off the taxpayer to throw down his neck.
What next? Will he claim that he only dodged paying council tax on his free accomodation for years because he's dyslexic and couldn't add up.
No doubt he'll find a way to blame that on Thatcher and the 11 Plus.
cfr - What a deeply boring comment. "But in the case of Prezzie and Dez we expect more." We do? More than what?
"They both put themselves up for up for public service and both failed." Uh-huh. What this has to do with Prescott's claim that he suffers from a fashionable psychosomatic disease (which he would have jeered at had a Tory claimed it) is a bit cloudy.
Did you read the comments previous to your own urgent contribution? Or perhaps you just skipped through them in your lynx-eyed determination to mention "Prezzie" and "Dez"?
"We should acknowledge that sometimes we put so much pressure on top politicians that they break."
My former brother in law, a CID detective, told me that being a crook is one of the most stressful occupations on earth. That's why so many of them are relieved to cough and get it all off of their chests once they're caught and bang to rights.
Politcians suffer stress for the same reason. If far too many of them weren't such lying crooks they wouldn't be under so much pressure. Much of their stress stems from trying to cover up for their own rotten lies and deceit.
cfr - But didn't all politicians put themselves forward? Why did you "expect more" of "Dezzie and Prez"? A little thinking gap there.
Iain.
I just can't believe that you have been taken in by Prescott's ridiculous claim of suffering from bulimia.
The man is a notorious glutton and there is absolutly no evidence to support his claim, apart from his own words.
No wonder you were rejected as a prospective Parliamentary cacndidate if you believe such obvious attempts to gain public sympathy and to advetrtise his book.
Get real.
I posted last night but either I screwed up or Iain didn't like what I said.
Prescott, sad, newsworthy and exploitable in an MSM sort of way. I am gutted that Iain and others haven't picked up on his linked story about Des Browne.
Members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces are dying whilst the political inner circle blithely discusses the mental health of the Defence Secretary!!!!
Do me, a member of the Armed Forces, a favour and get your priorities right please.
If Des Browne is mentally ill, no slight, it happens, then it is the highest priority of government to replace him RIGHT NOW.
Iain, your and others unwillingness to pursue this story instead of the easy MSM style hits on McBroon, demean your position. Prove yourself more than just another Westminster Village acolyte.
I have no doubt that Hurler Prescott, famous for greediness, often stuffed himself and glug-glugged large volumes of liquor to the point of racing to the bathroom to throw up his dinner. As others have said, this is gluttony, not bulimia.
Judging by the picture of Des Browne in yesterday's paper, the man is raving. Only in socialist Britain would they put a mentally ill person in charge of armed forces engaged on battlefields. If I'm not wrong, it was Des Browne who OKayed it for that fat girl and her fellow incompetents to sell articles on the story of their capture and temporary detention by the Iranians. The Iranians clearly had the nous to read Des Browne correctly.
While we're at it, could we get rid of Des and Ed and Bill and Tony (why is Charles Clarke still Charles, btw, and not Chuck?) and call them by their formal names? I don't want to have nicknames of people I wouldn't shake hands with forced on me.
God, I hate the left!
Verity said ...
"Only in socialist Britain would they put a mentally ill person in charge of armed forces engaged on battlefields."
Rumsfeld?
"why is Charles Clarke still Charles, btw, and not Chuck?
Because this is Britain not the U.S.
4:12 - But they are slavish copiers of American usage in Britain. I was at one point going to compile a list of Americanisms employed on this blog by people who are filled with disdain for America and Americans. Every second sentence contains catchphrases from some American sitcom, but noting them all down was too arduous.
I was a fan of Donald Rumsfeld. He is Ivy League, civilised, witty and worldly. Not one of those adjectives applies to Mad Dez or, indeed, any of the other louts in the current government.
go on Verity - just give us a few, but not too many, of those American catchphrases - those catchphrases make me lefty.
Purely in the cause of advancing scientific knowledge, can anyone cite any examples, ante Prescott, of a male developing bulimia in his fifties?
This would appear to be a young persons' - primarily female - affliction and closely related to self-image. One look at Prescott is enough to inform us that physical self-image has never been one of his obsessions.
I googled 'bulimia middle-aged men' and was unsurprised to see that a whole new industry is springing up around John Prescott. These are "middle-aged men who are afraid to admit to bulimia". In fact, they are so "afraid", no one has admitted to it, so now we have a phanton army of "probable" middle aged male bulimia sufferers.
A whole new niche market!
Watch the attention-seekers come tumbling out of the closet with this suddenly discovered new route to victimhood. Maybe, if Ken loses, he can 'fess up. I can think of a couple of male luvvies who might appreciate a headline or two.
Verity:
If Charles Clarke should be called "Chuck", should John Prescott be known as "Chucker" or "Chuckie"?
Thinking about the latter, there was a horror film with a ventriloquist's dummy, called "Chuckie" that looked a bit like John Prescott...
Chrome Diplomat said...
"I'm not saying Prescott is comparable in terms of leadership to Churchill"
Churchill did suffer from depression. In his memoirs he referred to it (iirc) as 'the black dog'.
Churchill related it as an incidental truth about himself that people noted in passing while remaining absorbed by his fascinating writings. He did not use it as a gimmick for getting press attention in order to flog a boring book and humanise his rightly appalling public image. If Precott is actually being so truthful about this how come so many believe so little of so many other things he has said?
Does one need to supply proof of this new variety of illness? I might be described as a bit chunky myself. That's because I'm too poor to go to a gym so calories accumulate. I was just thinking that perhaps I might increase my income by claiming bulimia sickness benefit. Then I could go to a gym and eat out more so it would be good for my health and self-esteem. Would that work?
10:51 - That is exactly what I meant a couple of posts above when I referred to a new phanton army of middle age male "probable bulimia sufferers". This opens up a whole new arena for exploitation of disability benefits.
And all in the service of selling a dull book about an unachieving, ill-educated, loutish, aggressive, greedy fat man who threw a punch at his employer - a member of the electorate.
Although he had job titles in the Blair regime, we know they were grace and favour jobs to keep him from revealing the location of the bodies. He is an aggressive, dull-witted, mean-spirited, ugly thug.
I look forward to his biography - as though anyone cares about his life - sinking like a block of concrete.
A puff for his book - or a distraction from 10p and £50 bn? If he was advised by spin doctors, it may not have been for his personal benefit. Remember he's a loyal servant of the Party. So I suspect this has much more to do with timing than truth.
But if does turn out to be incontrovertibly true - sorry.
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