The Week That Was

This week saw the death of Douglas Barber, an army reservist who saw action in Iraq. He phoned the police then shot himself on his porch. This week also saw the death of Anne Turner, a retired doctor. She travelled to Switzerland with her family and committed assisted suicide. A whale died in the Thames and the polictical process in England suffered a series of small deaths.
Mark Oaten, home affairs spokesman for the Lib Dems resigned over leaked details of his affair with a rent boy, followed by Simon Hughes (Lim Dems again!) admitting that he had had a homosexual affair, despite earlier denying it. What forced his admission? The Sun newspaper.
Great move! What a way to disenchant the electorate. All politicians are liars.

Before I trip over my sanctimonious soap box and strangle myself with my halo, let me backtrack. All politicians are liars... All people are liars. Ouch! That sounds a bit harsh. Let me soften it a little. We are all a little economical with the truth, we fudge the details slightly, we fail to provide the full facts. The truth, veritas, illuminates and sheds light on untruth and darkness. But should we always tell it? For those of you feeling intellectually robust 'The truth: To be spoken in all circumstances, even if the possibility of harm results?' A 3500 word essay on my desk by Monday week!

What would the world look like if the truth was spoken all the time? Would Eastern Europe have imploded in the 1990s turning Serb against Croat? Would Rwanda have happened? Would genetically modified foods exist? Would the Western world continue to bleed the Two Thirds World dry? A quick lesson on truth for all you guys out there. When your better half says to you 'does my bum look big in this?' and you reply 'you look fine', we instinctively know that you are lying, which is why we change our outfit and we make you late. Learn to tell the truth tactfully! The following helpful/truthful comments could be used... 'The colour is great on you but that (skirt etc) is clinging in the wrong places'... 'What you really need is an a-line skirt that skims your hips'... 'There is nothing in this shop that does your figure justice, lets try another'. And when we find an outfit that suits don't forget to tell us that our bottoms are the cutest that you have ever seen. And hope that we don't ask the question 'why who else's bottom have you been looking at?'
Don't forget y'all, tell the truth now!