Cutting through the haze of dope
11:02am
Denis Skinner, the Beast of Bolsover, has taken to making drug jokes at David Cameron in the chamber â“ often a one-word remark which has the Labour benches in stitches. He did it again yesterday. Unless such asides are picked up by a speaker, Hansard ignore them - but they certainly mould the mood of the house. The drug issue hasn't gone away. Then Brown upgraded cannabis from Class C to Class B drugs. Then Jacqui Smith makes her “Confessions” tour of television studios. She took drugs before she entered public life, but still considers it proper to level with the public because she is in charge of drugs policy. Now we all know which Leader of the Opposition has refused to say whether he took drugs before 2001 because, um, it relates to what happened before he entered public life.
So I detect more than a hint of Cameron-bating in all these drugs announcements. Don’t forget, the image of Cameron taking expensive drugs with his Eton friends is one that Brown would love to plant in the electorate’s mind. I wouldn’t put it past him to one day have all his Cabinet put their history of drug-taking on the record (okay, he'd have to sack a few first) and challenge the Conservatives to do the same. As Andrew Rawnsley said last Sunday â“ this battle will be brutal and personal.
Previous
hogarth zombie
July 19th, 2007 11:44am Report this commentreally brutal. the wackiest gordon has ever got is to have bubbles in is mineral water
EyeSee
July 19th, 2007 11:55am Report this commentTaking drugs is a sign of a weakness of will. Either they are sheep, afraid of their peers or are too stupid to say no. There is the possibility that they might have actually taken them out of specific choice I suppose. Any way round it proves that these people, who then think they have some right to order other people's lives, are the singularly most unfit people to hold office. It is no wonder so many left liberals are happy to fess up to past drug taking (skipping mention of any current activity); it fits like a glove the ten years of incompetent dithering we have had.
albert hammond bootleg
July 19th, 2007 12:35pm Report this commentEyeSee: And who didn't have a weakness of will when they were at college (Gordon Brown excepted). It's absolute nonsense to judge somebody on the basis of what they did 20 or so years ago as a feckless youth. This is obviously puritanical positioning by GB so as he can follow up with attacks on the tories.
James T Kirk
July 19th, 2007 1:19pm Report this commentSo here we go again. Tory supporters quivering with fear at Brown's unchallengeable assaults. Can't the Tories find a Skinner-equivalent to whisper, " you're just a load of junkies"!, football chant style across the floor? And why not find an equivalent of the SNP whistleblower who started all the " cash-for-honours" enquiry, by reporting Brown's MP's who have confessed to drug taking to the police? After all, even cannabis is now being re-classified from class C to B by a government whose own ministers have confessed. Such criminal, not to mention hypoctritical, activity is worthy of investigation.
Craig Masson
July 19th, 2007 2:35pm Report this commentI do not agree with EyseSee - if someone is to be elected to govern me and those about me, I'd prefer it if they knew what they were deciding about. Whilst many things do not need to be experienced to know it's bad (such as murder!) many things should be sampled before passing comment. Could you honestly say a film or song is rubbish because of facts and figures about it? Or would you see it to make up your own mind? I think more people would vote for David Cameron if he admits to taking drugs in his youth.
Toby Young
July 20th, 2007 8:25am Report this commentWhen did Brown reclassify cannabis from class C to class B? Was I too stoned to notice this?
EyeSee
July 20th, 2007 5:21pm Report this commentAt school and after a good friend of mine smoked cannabis (I believe it was). I told him that I would not dob him in but he better not let me find out where he was getting it from, as they couldn't expect the same. I have never tried these idiotic substances and I found it easy, having the self confidence to stand up for my values, to refuse to participate. Being weak minded in your youth may mean you still are later in life(as I said before, certainly seems that way with New Labour). Otherwise, you don't just admit a past mistake, you actively shout about the stupidity of being unable to think for yourself and encourage people to walk the moral path. If you think about it, the attitude of 'tolerance' to past misdemeanours (and much else) is pretty much how we got into the mess we have today. A bit 'broken windows' I think.
Back to top