Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Tag Archives: sanna marin

Welcome to my day: 29 August 2022 – aren’t politicians people too?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 29th August 2022 - 7:54 am

As my colleague noted yesterday, Sanna Marin, the Prime Minister of Finland, has been in the news for having the audacity to be (relatively) young, and dance at parties. Alcohol may even have been partaken of!

And I find myself wondering, since when did we start insisting that rather dull people represent us and why? Whilst expecting relatively high moral and ethical standards does seem reasonable, politicians are human and should be able to express themselves and, heaven forbid, let their hair down from time to time.

I thought that Tim Farron who, despite his frankly bizarre fondness for Blackburn Rovers, is as real a person as you could hope to find, put it well when asked for comment by the Guardian;

Social media is a mixed bag. I think it does change things but we have to accept our politicians are human beings – we should expect high standards in terms of integrity, but that doesn’t preclude you from having a couple of beers with your mates and dancing like nobody’s watching. I‘m an Olympic-standard dad dancer and I’m glad there are no pictures of me.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged tim farron | 34 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Shocking report on Child Poverty (Simon McGrath)
Mathew on Monday: Restore Christine Jardine to the front bench! (Mathew Hulbert)
Labour infighting, Lib Dem opportunity (Jack Meredith)
Thoughts on Live Aid, 40 years on (Caron Lindsay)
A longer read for the weekend: Labour’s NHS Data marketplace (Anders Larson)

Advert

Recent Comments

Peter Martin
The topic of child poverty is linked to the recently much discussed question of cuts in welfare benefits. Lib Dems, very fairly, make the point that many of the...
Peter Martin
@ Simon, Interesting to know you had a similar background. Just as an addition to my previous personal comment: I didn't feel socially awkward until someh...
Craig Levene
Poverty should never be a barrier to academic achievement. All to often the progressive left has failed to acknowledge that family breakdown as one of the bigge...
David Evans
Brenda's point is well made. The welfare system is thoroughly broken by trying to put a monetary value that will "put right" every perceived or even perceivabl...
Simon R
@Peter; My experience at school was somewhat similar to yours in terms of not being able to afford things that were normal to many other kids - and that also le...