Thursday, September 20, 2007

A Matter of Perception

IAIN DALE IS AWAY - SHANE GREER IS STANDING IN

There are a lot of ways you can upset your constituents if you’re an MP. You could for example not bother to hold surgeries, you could say something indiscreet about your constituency in the press, or you can just go the whole hog and pull a Pelling.

Yes the man who apparently left his wife of 14 years whilst she was visiting her dying father abroad, was earlier this week arrested on suspicion of assaulting his pregnant 26-year-old wife (who incidentally is the woman he left his previous wife for). Nothing has been proven yet of course but then, that doesn’t really matter – as I’ve said before, in politics image is perception and perception is reality. And the image here is a man who left his wife in the worst possible circumstances for another woman who “can’t go into any details because [she doesn’t] want to prejudice a possible court case.”

In the eye of the contemporary beholder, guilt – viewed through the prism of the media – is a matter of perception.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, gosh, an MP behaved badly in his personal life. Hold the front page! I want to bid for the book and movie rights!

Y-a-w-n.

Anonymous said...

Don't know exactly how these things work in Britain, but in the U.S., the press will look the other way or turn something like this into a non-story--if you're of the "right" political persuasion, that is. For Democrats, "assaulted" is reported as "had a very vocal disagreement with" and "pregnant 26-year old wife" turns into "unnamed individual."

Anonymous said...

You do not know all the facts, and you have got at least one important one seriously wrong. No matter what Party this man belongs to, he is entitled to a fair hearing and not to be prejudged.

I think you should pull this item.