30 may 2010, too soon, too harsh, too detrimental

Just when the firmest of hands on the tiller was needed as the uk finance ministry (treasury as we quaintly call it) heads into the roughest of seas, the lieutenant had to be thrown overboard. David laws was, by all accounts, a firm and very able hand, whose meteoric rise to levels of the highest responsibility in the financial world had prepared him well for the vital task thrust on his shoulders. However, in this trustless world where lawyers' belt and braces rules must define everything, including a precise definition for the evolving and shifting thing that is a "partner", fear of the wrath of the baying 24-hour news cycle did it for him. I heard the "scandal" on the early morning news, and knew it was inevitable. Every hourly bulletin I heard during the day began, "david laws..." and I was waiting for the word "resignation". Too bad. Many similarly talented people will look away from politics. The pendulum has swung too far - justifiably, but in a way that is wrong and counter-productive. Politicians are not blameless, and we must not expect them to be. They have real lives, and are the better for it. We are not fallen angels, but risen apes.