Too much (From Penarth Times)

Too much

THE STORY of Mrs Blair and the conman has been given such large-scale media coverage that the matter may now seem to have got out of proportion.

Since there seems a consensus among nearly everyone that the prime minister's wife has not broken the criminal law, it becomes very much a case of alleged guilt by association.

Mrs Blair may arguably have shown faulty judgement in forming a de facto business association with a man with 'form'.

Is it one of the heads of indictment against her that she and her husband are effectively very rich, and able to buy up-market property for their son for his student days, while finding a nice letting opportunity in the same block of flats at the same time?

It could also be argued that Mrs Blair is surrounded by conmen anyway since most politicians make promises to the electorate, notably before elections, which are not always kept afterwards.

The spokesmen in Downing Street - Alastair and his crew - are famous for being 'economical with the truth' and it has been portrayed as a case of the truth having to be extracted from these folk painfully, like a dentist pulling out a bad tooth.

Nothing much has ever been done to remedy these systemic deficiencies in the news presentation department at 10 Downing Street.

The weight of recurring criticisms is largely ignored by a government which has such a big political majority in Parliament that it thinks it can do almost what it likes.

Michael O'Neill Warley House Railway Terrace Penarth