A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
Posted: 28 Mar 2026, 02:52
A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
20 December 2004
I don’t know whether I am a more sensitive soul than I suspected but as I get older I begin to realise that some events have quite a serious effect on me. We all know about the biggies, hearing of the death of a friend, learning of a tragedy, realising that a fundamental freedom is threatened, all these can affect us to some degree or another. So nothing new there then. However, I learned something this morning that wouldn’t normally affect me but in this case it did and started this train of thought.
We hear a lot nowadays about the peccadilloes of our masters, the latest being the Blunkett Affair. My first reaction to these is usually ‘who cares?’ but then we get into the thorny question about what standards our 'betters' ought to be expected to adhere to. Call me old-fashioned but my take on this is that if someone is going to set themselves up as an arbiter of the rules which control our lives they should make sure that their personal life is above reproach. We can all think of examples of the breaking of this rule. Given the normal rules of succession our next monarch could be at the same time head of the CofE and a philanderer to boot. Blunkett trumpeted the idea of protecting family life and at the same time was engaging in an affair which did anything but this. Do I need to remind you of John Major and ‘family values’?
All this is old hat, we have become almost indifferent to the erosion of loyalty, fidelity and plain simple good manners. So what was it that blew my mind this morning? Simply this, Simon Hoggart the parliamentary sketch writer in the Guardian has been named as the third man in the Blunkett affair, he was having a ‘relationship’ with Mrs Quinn as well. The question is why did this shock me so much?
I suppose that the fact that I met Simon's father and admire him and his work has coloured my view of the son. I trusted him and whilst not always agreeing with his opinions, enjoyed his column in the Guardian. This has all changed, now I shall always think of the man who related accounts of family holidays whilst playing away at the same time. On a much smaller and less important scale, I have a very loyal following for my articles in BET every week. My editor gives me the freedom to decide what I write about, he has never spiked or edited an article. I am arrogant enough to believe that this is because he trusts me. How would he feel, how would my readers feel, if they found that I had written espousing a point of view and done the opposite in my personal life? Once you expose yourself to the public and accept the benefits you have responsibilities. It’s called standards and principles, it builds reputation and once that is damaged you can never go back. To quote a friend, “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube”.
So I cringed when I heard Blunkett making his farewell speech and talking about his reputation for honesty. I note that Hoggart initially denied the reports and then retracted. Where are the standards? What is left of the reputation? How can we trust anything these people say again?
So there you are, that was this morning’s shock to my system, a small thing and not really of great interest but underlying this is one of the most damaging facets of our modern lives. We are rapidly running out of men of reputation and probity in public life. In the long run, the corrosive effects of this sort of uncertainty will do more damage to society than ‘terrorism’. In fact, this might be the ultimate subversion, the destruction of trust and the loss of innocence.
20 December 2004
20 December 2004
I don’t know whether I am a more sensitive soul than I suspected but as I get older I begin to realise that some events have quite a serious effect on me. We all know about the biggies, hearing of the death of a friend, learning of a tragedy, realising that a fundamental freedom is threatened, all these can affect us to some degree or another. So nothing new there then. However, I learned something this morning that wouldn’t normally affect me but in this case it did and started this train of thought.
We hear a lot nowadays about the peccadilloes of our masters, the latest being the Blunkett Affair. My first reaction to these is usually ‘who cares?’ but then we get into the thorny question about what standards our 'betters' ought to be expected to adhere to. Call me old-fashioned but my take on this is that if someone is going to set themselves up as an arbiter of the rules which control our lives they should make sure that their personal life is above reproach. We can all think of examples of the breaking of this rule. Given the normal rules of succession our next monarch could be at the same time head of the CofE and a philanderer to boot. Blunkett trumpeted the idea of protecting family life and at the same time was engaging in an affair which did anything but this. Do I need to remind you of John Major and ‘family values’?
All this is old hat, we have become almost indifferent to the erosion of loyalty, fidelity and plain simple good manners. So what was it that blew my mind this morning? Simply this, Simon Hoggart the parliamentary sketch writer in the Guardian has been named as the third man in the Blunkett affair, he was having a ‘relationship’ with Mrs Quinn as well. The question is why did this shock me so much?
I suppose that the fact that I met Simon's father and admire him and his work has coloured my view of the son. I trusted him and whilst not always agreeing with his opinions, enjoyed his column in the Guardian. This has all changed, now I shall always think of the man who related accounts of family holidays whilst playing away at the same time. On a much smaller and less important scale, I have a very loyal following for my articles in BET every week. My editor gives me the freedom to decide what I write about, he has never spiked or edited an article. I am arrogant enough to believe that this is because he trusts me. How would he feel, how would my readers feel, if they found that I had written espousing a point of view and done the opposite in my personal life? Once you expose yourself to the public and accept the benefits you have responsibilities. It’s called standards and principles, it builds reputation and once that is damaged you can never go back. To quote a friend, “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube”.
So I cringed when I heard Blunkett making his farewell speech and talking about his reputation for honesty. I note that Hoggart initially denied the reports and then retracted. Where are the standards? What is left of the reputation? How can we trust anything these people say again?
So there you are, that was this morning’s shock to my system, a small thing and not really of great interest but underlying this is one of the most damaging facets of our modern lives. We are rapidly running out of men of reputation and probity in public life. In the long run, the corrosive effects of this sort of uncertainty will do more damage to society than ‘terrorism’. In fact, this might be the ultimate subversion, the destruction of trust and the loss of innocence.
20 December 2004