There are few things as funny as the English nation with a piece of moral indignation between its teeth. Chris Huhne may struggle to see the funny side of that but he’s certainly experiencing it at the moment.
Huhne was got for speeding ten years ago and claimed his wife (now ex-) was the driver, not him. He consistently said it wasn’t him guv, until yesterday, when he ‘fessed up. The judge has told him in so many words he can expect a prison term. Nick Clegg and every other politician and pundit is nodding wisely and saying Huhne's sins have found him out.
Oh come on. I know speeding’s a bad thing. I should do - a couple of years back I was sent for a day of re-education and got fined for doing 37 mph in a 30mph zone. And it’s true - speed can kill. But just as I’d have been outraged if I’d been landed in the clink for that offence, I think the same applies to Huhne. I expect he did something terrible like lie in the witness box or told the House of Commons a porky pie - but does he deserve prison for that? They’d have to expand the jails dramatically to accommodate all the politicians who have lied over the past ten years.
But none of that matters. The Great British nation has got a principle clamped in its gob and is galloping madly towards a place called Retribution. God spare us all from such hypocritical bastards.
Jude
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to agree that prison is not really the best punishment for this sort of offence.
What interests me is the form of words he used.
"Having taken responsibility for...."
Is it just me or is that a little evasive. He sounds to me like a man who has been advised to plead guilty but is still in denial, or, less likely, he is innocent and is now taking the fall for his wife.