I owe readers and residents a confession.

At the weekend I drank champagne. I had quite a lot too. This is obviously the single biggest issue that faces Wandsworth at this time – so I thought you’d best hear from me before a photo appears in the local press.

Of course, if you were at a wedding as well, you’d probably have had some champagne – along with the hundreds of thousands of others who have had champagne at sometime to celebrate anything or, indeed, nothing.

That the Daily Mirror chose to run a picture of David Cameon at a party drinking champagne the day after the Shadow Chancellor became the first to start outlining plans to tackle the debt crisis we face says a lot.

It says that they have forgotten exactly what sort of parties have been going on at Labour conferences over the years (champagne socialiststs, anyone?) and it says they are utterly bereft of legitimate criticism.

They will presumably also be campaigning for a revision of second world war history, given Churchill’s penchant for Pol Roger champagne and Romeo y Julieta cigars while the country faced strict rationing.

It shows that while the Conservatives are talking about the real problems facing the country the left can do little more than trot out shock revelations that someone had a drink at a party. The level of political debate from the left in this country is shockingly and disappointingly low if this is the best they can do.

2 thoughts on “My champagne shame

  1. Come now, that’s a tabloid you’re referring to: if you don’t assume this represents “the level of political debate from the left”, I won’t assume that certain other right-wing bloggers represent the best in Conservative tradition.

    I can understand why they ran it: the whole “tough choices”, “cuts” thing clashes somewhat with champagne but to pretend people won’t have a glass or two (or maybe expensive malt?) at party conference season is nonsense.

    But if you want a serious issue to debate on: what about the Conservative pledge to get us out of the Human Rights Act? Surely this is throwing the baby out with the bathwater… there’s a lot of good come from the HRA, even if it has also caused some problems.

  2. It’s my blog and I’ll pick and choose my evidence as I see fit!

    I do take your point though, it’s a tabloid and the right aren’t always whiter than white. It’s a failing of mine that I always think we should do better and big nationals really should be trying to raise the level debate. I know The Sun is no better, and despair at The Daily Mail and Express.

    The HRA is a policy you have a good point on. Of course the idea is to get us out of the ECHR and have a ‘British’ Human Rights Act which keeps the good bits and loses the barmy bits. I think it’s healthy to have some scepticism as to how well that will work (and can’t imagine a good Conservative not having some scepticism about it).

    Having said all that, I have far more trust in the Conservatives on this sort of issue than I ever can with Labour, who really should have known much much better. Then again, I would say that, wouldn’t I?

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