Fame -I'm gonna live for ever!

Yes, this insignificant blog in which I left off steam, has finally made it into the media - well the Methodist Recorder!

Today's Recorder quotes from my article of a few days ago criticising the treatment of Charles Kennedy by his colleagues.

Readers may be interested to know that I stand by that article. There was a valid political judgement that could be made that he had served his time. The drink issue that had hitherto been covered up, should not have been brought into that equation especially at a time when he had come out of denial and was struglling to put it right. It is one thing to hit a man politically but another to go below the belt on personal issues.

Two things come out of all of this

1/. Alcohol is a huge problem in society. I have blogged on this before when I described it as a poison. Given the shocking increase in cyrrhosis reported recently it is time to give out the right signals that this stuff is damaging. That means higher prices through taxation and reversing the liberalisation of licensing laws if only to give the right message.

2/. Political parties are judged not only by policies but by how they treat people in momenta of frailty. I blogged that Labour's treatment of Lord Watson was wrong. Sadly, the Lib Dems have put a black mark against their name also.

As well as the human tragedy of this story, there should also be concern that liberalism has been compromised. At a time when civil liberties are under threat, we need a political voice that will speak for civil liberties. One of Charles Kennedy's achievements was that he took the liberties of this nation seriously and made his party the prime political party to be trusted on this issue.

Lib Dem MPs Lembit Opik, Michael Hancock and Simon Hughes are among those who recognised that Kennedy was badly treated by some colleagues. There needs to be a learning that parties who treat their own badly, are hard to trust to treat us right.

I hope the Lib Dems learn. The nation needs them to re establish civility for where else can we look?

I guess, I hoped for too much from the Lib Dems but of the main parties they were to me the prime hope for decency. I feel let down and disappointed.