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landmarker
24-Jan-06, 22:17
I'm not going into what the guy has himself admitted doing, because those shennanagins have been aired enough on here in my opinion but...

...given the fact that he had the nerve to stand in a leadership election when he knew his behaviour was wayward, and likely to haunt him. Given the fact that he publicly criticised a High Court judge for indulging in similar activities & given the fact that he has let down his wife and family so badly is he fit to remain as a Member of Parliament?

Westminster is a pit of back stabbing vipers but the golden rule seems to be dont get found out. The oafish Oaten did just that. Is it also right that he should lose his cushy job? For in my opinion, that's just what it is.

I'm undecided. Reasoned argument either way is what I'm looking for here.

Rheghead
24-Jan-06, 22:34
Since he was elected for his political views, have his shannanigans or the shame on him changed him politically? MPs are supposed to represent us politically from our constituencies, they are not there to be some form of ethical or moral icons otherwise there would be no one in Westminster. They get elected and deselected, so it is not up to him if he should resign, it is up to his comeuppance at the next election.

JAWS
24-Jan-06, 23:18
I think what surprised most people around him both politically and in the media was that he was silly enough to put himself in that position.

He must, or at least should have known that as soon as he announced he was standing for the leadership that anything untoward in his private life would soon come to light.

Having something like that in your background, and it couldn't have been well hidden, was bound to come to light eventually. I would think that some of the media were already aware but until then had bigger fish to fry.

I would say that putting himself in the spotlight under those circumstances definitely calls his judgement into question.
I certainly wouldn't trust his judgement on my behalf.

I dread to think how his family must feel but he obviously didn't give them a thought when he put himself forward.

DW
24-Jan-06, 23:31
Listened to a debate on radio 4 about it the other night.
A lady from his contituency stated that he has continually paraded himself as the upholder of family values.
She was totally convinced he was deceitful, duplicitous, and unfit to be her MP.

Gets my vote - her - not him :mad:

jjc
25-Jan-06, 00:16
Jaws, I agree – he has shown a massive lack of judgement.

One week ago today he released a press statement criticising the government’s new strategy on prostitution and calling for ‘managed zones’. We’ll probably never know how much his affair with a male prostitute might have influenced his decision making on important policies such as this – and given that, I think that he did the right thing in resigning his front-bench position.

Should he now resign his seat altogether? No, I don’t think so. As Rheghead says, his political opinions have not changed over the weekend – he has just lost a lot of his influence. If his local party members no longer feel that he is fit for the role then they should deselect him. Likewise, if his constituents no longer feel that he is fit to represent them then they will not vote for him.


I dread to think how his family must feel but he obviously didn't give them a thought when he put himself forward. But can you imagine the conversation?

Mrs Oaten: Why don’t you stand, dear? You’d make a wonderful leader.
Mr Oaten: Sorry love, I can’t. I’ve been having an affair with a rent-boy eighteen years my junior and I’m afraid the press might find out…
Mrs Oaten: :eek:

jjc
25-Jan-06, 00:19
There is a scrolling marquee on the top of Mark Oaten’s personal website (www.markoaten.com (http://www.markoaten.com/)) that says:


What have I been up to in Parliament? Click here…

I don’t know why, but that did make me chuckle… ;)

Rheghead
25-Jan-06, 00:39
One week ago today he released a press statement criticising the government’s new strategy on prostitution and calling for ‘managed zones’. We’ll probably never know how much his affair with a male prostitute might have influenced his decision making on important policies such as this –

I am surprised he didn't try the 'Pete Townsend' excuse by claming it was for research into the problem...yeah right, he probably knew no one would buy it.

JAWS
25-Jan-06, 00:50
jjc, you could be spot on there. If his wife thought he ought to try for the leadership even I wouldn't have liked to try to talk my way out of that one.

I like his explanation of his withdrawing from the leadership race.
He didn't have sufficient support from his colleagues. I'll bet he didn't!
They would have distanced themselves so far that they would have been specks in the distance. It's called 'having a wonderful sense of self preservation'. "No fear, you're on your own with that one mate!"

Of course, he just happens to have forgotten to mention the reason for the lack of support. Well he would, wouldn't he!
Didn't a rather attractive young lady once say something similar when another politician had been in a similar predicament involving her?

JAWS
25-Jan-06, 00:58
I am surprised he didn't try the 'Pete Townsend' excuse by claming it was for research into the problem...yeah right, he probably knew no one would buy it.
Why not? Gladstone managed to convince everybody that the reason he took Ladies of Ill Repute back to No.10 was because he wished to discuss their moral welfare with them.
I must have had a terribly suspicious wife because somehow I don't think she would have believed that explanation.

golach
25-Jan-06, 00:58
jjc, you could be spot on there. If his wife thought he ought to try for the leadership even I wouldn't have liked to try to talk my way out of that one.

I like his explanation of his withdrawing from the leadership race.
He didn't have sufficient support from his colleagues. I'll bet he didn't!
They would have distanced themselves so far that they would have been specks in the distance. It's called 'having a wonderful sense of self preservation'. "No fear, you're on your own with that one mate!"

Of course, he just happens to have forgotten to mention the reason for the lack of support. Well he would, wouldn't he!
Didn't a rather attractive young lady once say something similar when another politician had been in a similar predicament involving her?

Hmmm this looks like its gonna be a long debate, or maybe not. Homosexual Cowboys are possibly ok in some views. But a politician who has sex with a male prostitue???? I am physically disgusted at the thought of another male or female having sex with a similar sex person. The thought of it is totally abhorant in my opinion

JAWS
25-Jan-06, 01:14
Golach, I think that line was taken over a Welsh MP who was in a similar situation. I don't think he lasted very long after he was found out.
If I remember rightly he tried to brazen it out and failed.

ice box
25-Jan-06, 01:55
Yes .........

gleeber
25-Jan-06, 08:37
I dont have a lot of time for anyone who decieves someone else although I am aware it probably happens more often than even Jaws could make fun of.
That awareness makes me look at the knockers and moralisers in a new way. I wonder what secret thoughts and perversions our bonnie laddies on Caithness.org keep from the rest of the world?
If I dont like something I dont do it. I dont imagine the taste of tripe when someone mentions tripe, neither do I imagine the mechanics of homosexuality when I hear it mentioned. I find that quite odd.

Saveman
25-Jan-06, 09:02
I'm not going into what the guy has himself admitted doing, because those shennanagins have been aired enough on here in my opinion but...

...given the fact that he had the nerve to stand in a leadership election when he knew his behaviour was wayward, and likely to haunt him. Given the fact that he publicly criticised a High Court judge for indulging in similar activities & given the fact that he has let down his wife and family so badly is he fit to remain as a Member of Parliament?

Westminster is a pit of back stabbing vipers but the golden rule seems to be dont get found out. The oafish Oaten did just that. Is it also right that he should lose his cushy job? For in my opinion, that's just what it is.

I'm undecided. Reasoned argument either way is what I'm looking for here.


I think this brings in the bigger question of morals in the modern world. Should there be one set standard of morals for everyone? Or one set of standards for the public and another set of standards for those in charge? And who sets those standards?
Currently anything goes in a moral sense for the general public, "live and let live." When we see politicians doing the same then there is an outcry.
Seems somewhat hypocritcal to me.

Whitewater
25-Jan-06, 10:29
Everybody can moralise and debate this issue until the cows come home and no conclusion will be arrived at.

If you are in public service and in the media spotlight you should have enough sense to know that anything in your background which can make cheep news and boost newspaper sales or capture the media audience is bound to come to the attention of the nation sooner or later. The media in this country appears to take great delight in building up people and their reputations just so that they can have better fun in tearing them to bits at the first sign of human fraility.

scotsboy
25-Jan-06, 10:30
No, I dont think he should resign.

Saveman
25-Jan-06, 10:42
Everybody can moralise and debate this issue until the cows come home and no conclusion will be arrived at.


We'll each arrive at our own conclusion no doubt.



If you are in public service and in the media spotlight you should have enough sense to know that anything in your background which can make cheep news and boost newspaper sales or capture the media audience is bound to come to the attention of the nation sooner or later. The media in this country appears to take great delight in building up people and their reputations just so that they can have better fun in tearing them to bits at the first sign of human fraility.

The media is only allowed to do this because of the public’s insatiable appetite for scandal. We get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when the underdog beats the odds and reaches the top. Once he's at the top for a while we get a warm, fuzzy feeling in watching him being torn to sheds and fall from grace.
Human nature some might say or a lack of direction in peoples lives that mean they live life through the medium of celebrity voyeurism.

The world is a piece of cheese and I'm eating it.

JAWS
25-Jan-06, 17:17
The media is only allowed to do this because of the public’s insatiable appetite for scandal. We get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when the underdog beats the odds and reaches the top. Once he's at the top for a while we get a warm, fuzzy feeling in watching him being torn to sheds and fall from grace.
Human nature some might say or a lack of direction in peoples lives that mean they live life through the medium of celebrity voyeurism.

The whole sad, silly and childish nature of our press and media was summed up rather nicely by the England Football Manager who pointed out that the press and media were far more interested in his private life than they were about the job he is employed to do. He described it as a circus and pointed out that this is the only European Country where this happens.
I can't speak about other Countries by France has a law about privacy specifically to stop this sort of 'feeding frenzy'.

Personally I find the whole 'who slept with who last night' stories as interesting as being told about the goings on between next door dear sweet tabby and the nasty roving ginger-tom from down the lane.

Have we really got to the state as a Nation where the most interesting and exciting thing in the World is at the level of tittle tattle over the back yard wall.
Occasionally we descend to the level of serious questions being asked in Parliament about the 'goings on' in Soap Operas.

I shudder to think what 'grown up' Countries think about us. And we think we ought to be taken seriously in the World?
Has anybody put the Cat out yet?

badger
25-Jan-06, 17:35
Hmmm this looks like its gonna be a long debate, or maybe not. Homosexual Cowboys are possibly ok in some views. But a politician who has sex with a male prostitue???? I am physically disgusted at the thought of another male or female having sex with a similar sex person. The thought of it is totally abhorant in my opinion

Has it ever occurred to you that homosexuals might find the prospect of sex with someone of the opposite sex abhorrent? People and animals are born with all sorts of gender variations and sexual natures - what is natural to one is unnatural to another but that's no reason to go around calling someone different from you disgusting. Why only complain about a politician having sex with a male prostitute? Are you saying it’s OK if the prostitute is female, because if so I strongly disagree. For many prostitutes their way of life is slavery, either to someone else or to an addiction, and a perpetual misery. This is what’s wrong, not the sex of the prostitute.

scotsboy
25-Jan-06, 17:43
What if it was a sheep then?

jjc
25-Jan-06, 18:06
What if it was a sheep then?
Then you aren't talking about a relationship between two consenting adults you are talking about a person abusing animals for sexual gratification... :roll:

Rheghead
25-Jan-06, 18:48
What if it was a sheep then?

What if that was a troll?

scotsboy
25-Jan-06, 19:17
For many prostitutes their way of life is slavery, either to someone else or to an addiction, and a perpetual misery

Does that count as consenting?

Sir_Jocky_Thirsa_MP
25-Jan-06, 19:21
Sheep, now that takes me back to my childhood... I've always thought Mark to be a wonderful fellow, my memory always falls back to a night a few years ago in London when, after a long hard day in the House, he invited me back to his cottage for a spendid meal of Toad in the Hole.

scotsboy
25-Jan-06, 19:25
What if that was a troll?

He is a Liberal, not a Tory

landmarker
25-Jan-06, 19:52
I wonder what secret thoughts and perversions our bonnie laddies on Caithness.org keep from the rest of the world?
.

Isn't this rather sexist? - 'laddies'??

Even if it is, I don't care.

I've never had tripe or homosexual sex but I dont think either would be to my taste.

Do you lack imagination generally or just with regard to tripe and anal sex?

landmarker
25-Jan-06, 19:54
What if it was a sheep then?

I am warming to your off the wall responses scotsboy. Keep it up.

landmarker
25-Jan-06, 20:08
Labour M.P, John Cruddas defended Oaten today on Radio 5.
He said there needs to be 'boundaries'

Not boundaries on personal behaviour , but on the judgement of personal behaviour in the context of a private life.

He helped me make my mind up.

Oaten would never have assumed a position of real power. The British public of late do not like bald politicians and within five years he will be bald as a coot. He had some mickey mouse degree from a former polytechnic and was
not from the top drawer of politics - unlike his bald contemporary, William Hague.

However, he was the 'Home Affairs' spokesman for the third largest political party in the land. A position of repute.

He blew it. If he does not have the moral courage to resign, as I think he should, then let his party de-select him. He has a large majority I believe in a traditionally Tory seat. He came to parliament on a wave of Conservative discontentment. His seat will be under threat next time anyway from a re-juvenated Tory party under a new leader (with hair) in their heartland of Hampshire.

He will be deselected because the Lib-Dem party workers there will know the seat is under threat, and he will be a liability. It's a shame.

I suspect his wife will elbow him too. The injury she has suffered is much worse than that of his constituents. If he needs this kind of outlet for his sexuality he will surely go loking for it again at some point. From what I have gleaned his mother-in-law is a formidable Dutch woman who may well be giving her daughter wise counsel.She may well also give Mark a right hander.

I take no pleasure in seeing Oaten's downfall, but unlike John Cruddas I believe our public servants have to have boundaries in their personal lives.
Is there no such thing anymore as shame and disgrace? For some people it seems not.

So, to sum up If he doesn't resign he'll be booted anyway. If he has any sense he'll do the decent thing now and salvage at least a scintilla of self-respect.

jjc
25-Jan-06, 20:47
Does that count as consenting?
No, but what's your point? :confused:

Rheghead
25-Jan-06, 21:01
I've never had tripe or homosexual sex but I dont think either would be to my taste.

Pah! A northern englishman like myself and you've never had tripe?:roll: In my town there were butchers that only sold the stuff, lovely with milk or vinegar!

Don't knock it until you've tried it...[para] :grin:

landmarker
25-Jan-06, 21:08
Pah! A northern englishman like myself and you've never had tripe?:roll: In my town there were butchers that only sold the stuff, lovely with milk or vinegar!

Don't knock it until you've tried it...[para] :grin:

Maybe it's a generational thing Rheghead. Perhaps youre on the tail end of yours and I'm at the vanguard of mine. I'm 54. I'd guess you're a few years older?
Speaking of vans I remember red 'UCP' vans emblazoned with the logo 'tripe & cowheels' and I recall seeing tripe in the Butchers window, all soft white and fluffy looking. I dont believe I ever tasted it though.

Rheghead
25-Jan-06, 21:16
Maybe it's a generational thing Rheghead. Perhaps youre on the tail end of yours and I'm at the vanguard of mine. I'm 54. I'd guess you're a few years older?.

Nah, I am 40, I just come from an insular Lancashire town (http://www.ulverston.net) that is/was caught in a 1950s world.:) It is waking up now though...

JAWS
25-Jan-06, 21:47
Landmarker, your ideas about MPs are now very outdated you must become more modern in your outlook.

At one time, in fact until quite recently, there were very few MPs who were not gentlemen. (I am not referring to class, but to outlook and behaviour)
That is not to say that they were all little Angels many were not, but they did at least behave with dignity.

If the married ones had any affairs and were caught out publicly then once they had failed in any denials they did the decent thing. They resigned and tried to repair their marriage. Doing otherwise was 'not the done thing' and it wasn't only their political opponents that made that clear to them.
Now MPs are vilified for not abandoning their wives and children in favour of moving in with their mistress, as if that was the only decent thing to do.

A Minister whose Department fell below standard or made serious mistakes automatically accepted the blame because it was his responsibility to see that didn't happen. If they lost a vote on a major piece of legislation they automatically accepted they had embarrassed the Government and went.
Now, it's who can I dump the blame on, where can I find a patsy? It is always somebody else's fault because they either didn't tell him/her, it happened before I was here, it's a matter that he/she intends to look into, any excuse will do. All that matters is hanging on to your well paid job and your official car at any cost!

MPs and ex-MPs now advertise their little sexual peccadilloes for all the World to read about and are quite happy to chat away about it on the Media.
When Harold MacMillan was Prime Minister his wife was having an affair with Bob Boothby a Front Bench Spokesman for the Opposition. Many MPs and no doubt many reporters were aware of it, but, because it was not interfering with either’s duties the matter was not spoken about.
Nobody made any attempt to make political capital out of it and the press obviously didn't think it was worth the cost of ink and paper.

Can you imagine anything like that happening today?
Basically, the modern MP is a chancer, more interested in doing their best for themselves and anything else comes a very poor second.

scotsboy
26-Jan-06, 10:40
JJC, Badger originally wrote:
People and animals are born with all sorts of gender variations and sexual natures - what is natural to one is unnatural to another but that's no reason to go around calling someone different from you disgusting

I was simply asking if he/she would have found it disgusting if Mark Oatens object of desire had been a sheep.

badger
26-Jan-06, 11:35
Presumably the sheep would not have been consenting so - yes. Actually I agree with various earlier comments that there is far too much publicity about all these things - I really don't want to know and I'm sick of hearing about it. It's a bad enough situation for Mrs Oaten but the publicity makes it infinitely worse. He is obviously a hypocrite but sadly there are a lot of those in public life. Whatever happened to discretion and dignity? Now we've got Simon Hughes saying he is gay. So what? As far as I'm concerned his fault is not being gay but in lying about it. But then why should he be asked in the first place, it's no-one's business but his? The one good thing about Sven whats'it resigning is that we shan't have to hear about his private life any more. It is perfectly possible to keep your private life private, e.g. Jeremy Paxman simply refuses to talk about his family. Mark Oaten, on the other hand, invited the cameras into his home to see his children. Why?

jjc
26-Jan-06, 12:29
I was simply asking if he/she would have found it disgusting if Mark Oatens object of desire had been a sheep. No, what you did was take Badger’s perfectly reasonable reaction to Golach’s “physical disgust” at the thought of homosexual sex and use it to suggest that Badger can therefore have no objection to people sexually abusing animals.

Think about it – if Badger had simply said that having sex with sheep is wrong (i.e. not mentioned that sheep cannot give consent) would you not have tried to suggest he was being hypocritical?

frank ward
26-Jan-06, 12:42
I see that another LibDem leadership contender, Hughes, has come out of the closet.
Good for him, but why then did he run his own election campaign (against Peter Tatchell) on homophobic, anti-gay line - 'Vote Hughes, the Straight Choice.'

Sadly such political hypocrisy is rampant within the LibDems.

Whitewater
26-Jan-06, 13:08
The Lid Dems are turning out to be a very interesting party, I see Simon Hughes has come out of the closet now. I wonder who will be next !!!!!!, we could maybe run a book on it. I wonder who the bookmakers would make the 'odds on' favourite

badger
26-Jan-06, 13:50
I suspect it only looks like a LibDem problem because their leaders are in the news just now. Look at all the fuss they tried to make out of David Cameron and drugs! I wouldn't get too smug, Frank, as I'm sure there are just as many homosexuals etc. in the other parties, including yours - you just aren't aware of it. Hope this isn't going to turn into some kind of "outing" witch hunt. MPs who are openly gay are accepted and don't have a problem, except maybe with a few bigots.
BTW Hughes has apologised for that earlier campaign. Should have done it sooner I suppose but there we are.

DW
26-Jan-06, 14:15
What else do you expect from a party called the Liberals???

Personally, I can't wait for the bondage and s&m to hit the fan [lol]

Tymey
26-Jan-06, 14:26
The world is a piece of cheese and I'm eating it.

Probably Emmental as it has as many holes in it as your argument.

The world is a piece of cheese? I've never heard such claptrap.

Saveman
26-Jan-06, 14:40
Probably Emmental as it has as many holes in it as your argument.

The world is a piece of cheese? I've never heard such claptrap.

Perhaps you should take into consideration what world I'm talking about. It's arrogance on your part to think I may be talking about your world.
I stated "The" world not your world or our world.

It could be a metaphor for how convincing my argument was, at least to myself. Or perhaps it was a parody of the posting culture of messages boards in general. A comment on the society we live in.

Social commentary may need a modicum of intelligence to recognise and understand. That it was over your head, doesn't surprise me.

[/parodyofparody]

Tymey
26-Jan-06, 14:45
Perhaps you should take into consideration what world I'm talking about. It's arrogance on your part to think I may be talking about your world.
I stated "The" world not your world or our world.

It could be a metaphor for how convincing my argument was, at least to myself. Or perhaps it was a parody of the posting culture of messages boards in general. A comment on the society we live in.


[/parodyofparody]

More cheese vicar?

Saveman
26-Jan-06, 14:50
More cheese vicar?
What?

Getting back to the thread........yes he should resign.

Tymey
26-Jan-06, 14:59
You don't even like cheese......probably.

I agree that his tenure in Parliament would seem to be coming to a conclusion. Is the Oaten issue and that of Simon Hughes (MP and wouldbe LibDem leader, not Channel 4's cricket analyst) really in the public interest?

squidge
26-Jan-06, 17:38
See now

I dont see Simon Hughes sexuality isnt an issue in politics - it appears to be a rather grey area for him and i think that is a shame but it isnt a political issue.

We fall in love with and have relationships through our lives with all sorts of people, some "suitable" some not, some acceptable, some not, we might all have had relationships with people that would make us embarrassed if the details became public knowledge. Thats what Simon Hughes is saying really - "im not gay im not straight im not sure what i am really" Does it matter? Not one jot!

The difference for me with Mark Oaten is that he paid for sex with a rent boy and there is a deception about that - he was pretending to be a married honest man and yet he was cheating - BIG STYLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The lack of common sense amazes me too. What on EARTH was he thinking about? Do we want a home affairs spokesman who shows such lack of judgement? If he had an affair with a man he loved and was simply torn in a stupidly sad triangle i would find it easier to understand and to say that its not our business but to go out and buy it is MAD. Sometimes i really think it is true what they say about men - unzip their trousers and their brains fall out!!!!

jjc
26-Jan-06, 17:40
Sometimes i really think it is true what they say about men - unzip their trousers and their brains fall out!!!!
Ouch... that was a little below the belt.

scotsboy
26-Jan-06, 18:21
JJC wrote:

No, what you did was take Badger’s perfectly reasonable reaction to Golach’s “physical disgust” at the thought of homosexual sex and use it to suggest that Badger can therefore have no objection to people sexually abusing animals.

Think about it – if Badger had simply said that having sex with sheep is wrong (i.e. not mentioned that sheep cannot give consent) would you not have tried to suggest he was being hypocritical?

You are reading to much into what you think I was saying. In no way was I connecting what Badger wrote with Golachs reaction - just trying to find out what if anything Marc Oaten could have done would have been cause for resignation in Badgers eyes. You will see from my earlier post that I dont think he should resign.

Rheghead
26-Jan-06, 18:35
I remember the furore after Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe's demise from Public life and his romp with male model. How things don't change, but I also remember the comedy slogan 'Vote Liberal and feel a man!' :p

JAWS
26-Jan-06, 22:14
Jeremy Thorpe's was another case where the press and media were aware of his homosexuality for a long time. There was an unspoken agreement amongst them that it didn't need to be mentioned.
The only reason it came to light was during a Court Case involving his ex-boyfriend and allegations that Thorpe was involved in somebody trying to shoot his dog. (Might not be exact but that's near enough) The ex-boyfriend, who had been pressuring the press for some time to print his story, brought it out in open court.
The press then felt they had no option to report it because it was difficult to plead ignorance when it had been mentioned in such a public way.
Until that time they had considered it in no way affected his public life.
Prior to that there was no need for him to 'cover it up' because the question was never posed.

landmarker
26-Jan-06, 23:02
What else do you expect from a party called the Liberals???

Personally, I can't wait for the bondage and s&m to hit the fan [lol]

I fear it may be worse than that. With the Sun describing Oaten's antics as bizzarre, and todays Mail 'Stephen Glover' saying he has debased another human being in ways not suitable to report in a 'family newspaper' I fear there may be scatalogical implications in this. Question is, which turgid newspaper will report it first. What will constituents think? Will he lose his seat?

This could give a whole new meaning to the 'solids hitting the fan'

Simon Hughes says he has had several; 'gay relationships' er...what exactly constitutes a 'relationship' in these permissive easy going times? A few minutes, days, weeks, what?

Problem with promiscuity and high office is that it can lead to blackmail.
Thus threatening national security. These guys were not that high up & I for one am relieved. Hughes will not win this election. Not that it mattters much either way because the Lib-Dem's star is waning. Huhne, the new guy on the block sounds common sensical (apart from pro-Europe tosh) but old Ming seems lack lustre. Even the libs are not yet ready for a homosexual, Hughes has surely blown it.

A text vote on Radio 5 tonight had 75% voting for Kennedy !

My prediction: Huhne.

JAWS
27-Jan-06, 00:28
It can be worse than Blackmail, landmarker, as a certain Minister of Defence discovered a good few years ago.

When the Minister of Defence suddenly discovers, along with the whole of Parliament and the World's Media, that the very attractive young lady who's bed he sometimes shares is also sharing her bed with the Russian Military Attache, (Posh word for Spy Master) then Blackmail pales into significance.

And whilst there is the possibility of somebody pulling that sort of Rabbit out of the Magician's Hat then you have problems.

scorrie
27-Jan-06, 00:33
I remember the furore after Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe's demise from Public life and his romp with male model. :p

Was that the time he was compared to Captain Kirk from Star Trek?

The thing they had in common was that they always asked Mr Scott for more thrust!!

"She'll Nae take it Captain"

Talking of Scotty, James Doohan, who played Montgomery Scott in Star Trek, fathered a child at the age of 80. Obviously he was still "Doohan" the business well past the normal Stardate, and on that occasion "She wiz takin it Captain"

Saveman
27-Jan-06, 00:37
William Shatner didn't like James Doohan.