Page 1 of This is irritating me,.....

by "this" i mean the re-surfacing of the press giving David Cameron grief for refusing to answer questions on whether he smoked canabis when he was a teenager.


I am kind of fed up with the media ramming this ridiculous and meaningless topic down my throat. Who gives a toss whether Mr Cameron smoked canabis when he was 15 (over 20 years ago) ?? I certainly dont, as far as I;m concerned as long as the person running the country - or those challenging to do so - is not in charge whilst being p***ed or off their heads on some form of drugs then what difference does it make what he did all those years ago? I bet most of these press and media busy bodies were just as bad.

Let the guy`s past be private - that goes with all these "famous people" - If something comes up from the last few years when he has been in the public eye then thats fair game but what he did as a mere kid should be left where it is.


Remembering that even John Reid - Home Secretary, Labour Party - refused to jump on Cameron;s back when questioned on television I;d suggest even the opposition cant fathom it


I sadly am out of the office from about 10am so I prob wont get to see any responses so I apologise for not being able to carry on any debate any time soon I just felt the need to rant

Chris

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yeah, i can`t understand the relevance of this media frenzy over it all, must have been a quite weekend after all the snow went away and nothing else to report. :/

I`m not 100% in my thoughts on this one but I actually do think it is relevant. David Cameron, or at least is party, has made a strong issue about drug use and cannabis in particular. What annoys people is the hypocritical side of it - saying young people (and a few older people :-) ) shouldn`t take drugs while he himself did so. If he wants to be abel to say that then I think he needs to come clean and say exactly what he took and teh harm it did to him to justify his current views.

To me it`s exactly the same as the labour MPs sending kids to private schools - one rule for them and a different one for everyone else, or all these grant funded university educated people making sure that current students end up leaving with thousands of pounds in debt.

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"What annoys people is the hypocritical side of it - saying young people (and a few older people Happy ) shouldn`t take drugs while he himself did so."

Do you not think that people that have experience on a subject are actually more entitled and better placed to give their views than those that have merely formed their opinions on what other people have said?

I`ve rather be told a film is awful by someone who has watched it, rather than someone that has just jumped on a bandwagon of disgust. For example.

Many people have done things in the past that, with the benefit of their later wisdom and experience, they don`t think was the best thing to do and surely these people need to be listened to?

J.

P.s. Fair play to John Reid who, on being questioned about the whole affair, refused to condemn Cameron and swiftly moved the questioning away from the issue....back to the hooha of his failing department.

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Do you not think that people that have experience on a subject are actually more entitled and better placed to give their views than those that have merely formed their opinions on what other people have said?

Absolutely, but as I said above if that is what he wants to do then he needs to be upfront about it and explain what he did and why he regrets it, and why others shouldn`t do as he did. And also be more understanding and less condemning about others who make the same decisions/mistakes as he once did.

I`m suprised he hasn`t come out with something like hug a junkie.

floyd

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Absolutely, but as I said above if that is what he wants to do then he needs to be upfront about it and explain what he did and why he regrets it, and why others shouldn`t do as he did. And also be more understanding and less condemning about others who make the same decisions/mistakes as he once did.

The problem is it`s not as if he`s hit the lowest of the lows on drugs and his story will act as wake up call for anyone.

I can`t be arsed smoking it and never really have because I hate smoking, but the fact I`ve tried it and it wasn`t for me isn`t really going to help anyone else.

Imagine him holding a big press conference

"I smoked cannabis a few times, but don`t anymore."

He`d be ridiculed for trying to be cool and appealing to the youngsters if he came out with the story but then there was no other reason than admitting it.

My DVD collection

This item was edited on Monday, 12th February 2007, 12:30

Quote:
Absolutely, but as I said above if that is what he wants to do then he needs to be upfront about it and explain what he did and why he regrets it, and why others shouldn`t do as he did. And also be more understanding and less condemning about others who make the same decisions/mistakes as he once did.


I completely disagree with this. I see no point in dredging up this part of his teenage life. I don`t think he needs to explain why he believes drugs are bad. What purpose would this serve? We`ve all done things that we regretted.

Furthermore, i do not believe that this means he can`t condemn drug use today. Neither does he have to be more understanding of drug users.

For a start it is alleged that he smoked cannabis and the police are hardly very strict about that drug.

Secondly, there is no inherent contradiction in him punishing drug users since he could (quite convincingly) argue that it is for their own benefit.

And finally, why shouldn`t he have different opinions now than when he was 15? In fact, if he did, i`d be very worried.

Personally, i think David Cameron is gonna come out of this smelling of roses. He is standing up for a principle (a right to privacy), he has avoided lying and he has suddenly becoming much more human (i would imagine that those who have tried cannabis (i don`t have the figures, but i reckon it`s a sizeable proportion) will empathise hugely with him).

It`s such a ridiculous story to lead the news with. All the things going on the world, and ITN lead with `Cameron might have smoked cannabis when he was at school`. Hmmm....

Did he inhale? Wow, that`s more than the Clinton ever did.. Vote Cameron! ;)