I’ve got something irritating buzzing round my head at the moment and it won’t go away. Nick Clegg just keeps singing, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so , sorry”. If you don’t know what I’m on about, you really need to watch the video at the end of this post and it will all make sense.
So, Nick finally came out this week and said sorry for breaking his promise to not increase tuition fees in this YouTube broadcast.
Well no, actually he didn’t. He just said sorry for making a promise he never was going to be able to keep unless his party won a majority at the last general election. And the chances of that happening were about as big as those of Southampton winning the Premier League this season, i.e. zero.
Despite most of the Liberal Democrat leadership getting behind Clegg and admitting they should take some of the blame too and trying to put a positive spin on it, the general reaction towards his mea culpa moment has expectedly been mixed ranging from contempt to praise.
All this therefore brings me to my question for today: “Is it possible for politicians to genuinely say sorry?” Can you think of an occasion when a politician has apologised for something they’ve done without trying to fudge it? It’s rare enough to hear the word ‘sorry’ actually coming from a politicians lips, so rare in fact that it takes us by surprise when it does happen. It’s much more common to watch them try to pass the blame onto someone else. Alternatively they wrap up a potential apology in such convoluted wording that in the end you’re left believing they weren’t actually intending to say sorry at all.
It’s a sad state of affairs that our political culture makes apologising so difficult. It’s almost as if it’s seen as a sign of weakness and failure. There’s something stirringly hopeful in what Clegg has done even though it’s hard to tell if was actually genuine in the limited and clumsy apology he gave. He’s looking for forgiveness for the (big) mistake his party made over tuition fees and a chance to move on without it constantly hanging over him.
I admire Clegg’s willingness to admit his fallibility especially when it’s reported that his party advisors told him not to go ahead with it. If Clegg’s diving popularity is stabilised by this or even shows a mild improvement thanks to his autotuned remix on YouTube along with any benefit to charity through the forthcoming single, then maybe it will send a message to politicians that the British public actually can be forgiving when politicians act more like the rest of us and admit that they do get things wrong.
For Christians saying sorry and giving and recieving forgiveness is a core part of our make-up. We know that we get things wrong and that we need to admit our failings and repent when we do. The Bible is absolutely full of this stuff and for good reason too. In 1 John 1 it’s written that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
That truth recognises that we’re not perfect and don’t have all the answers. When we ignore it, we can easily get conceited and think we know best without questioning ourselves, displaying an arrogance where we’re happy to criticise others, but not willing to accept criticism pointed in our direction. In doing so we alienate people and lose their trust and respect.
Our political system desperately needs an injection of trust and respect between the political classes and the public. As long as ‘sorry’ remains one of the hardest words for our politicians to utter, trust and respect are sadly going to remain in short supply to everyone’s detriment.
Categories: Media, Party politics
Brooks Newmark’s humiliating failure is not the real scandal 
The Big Question or just patronising? – ‘Can you be a Christian and vote for UKIP?’ 
God and Politics in the UK 
What’s the beef with Southampton?? Some mistake, surely!
Glad he said sorry…but it does beg the question- what is the point of an election promise, if anything can be said, and at a later date retracted with a ‘if I had known then what I know now’ explanation. Democracy rests solely on our ability to make an informed choice once every five or so years. If we cannot trust the information, there is no basis I to cast a vote.
Nick Clegg is in a difficult position as the junior part of a coalition government. A coalition means compromise and you cannot get everything you would wish for in the negotiating process. The alternative would have been for his party not to enter into that arrangement. I presume he thinks he can have more liberal influence being part of the government. A hung parliament would have led to greater instability in putting a programme together or possibly another election. I went off Nick Clegg over the same sex marriage issue not because i have terribly strong feelings about the issue as such but because he was calling for a ”party line” vote on an issue of conscience. Same with the Green party. Democracy is not well served when when there is coercion on the ”hatches” ”matches” and ”dispatches” issues because they are emotive and profound to life. . It should be acceptable to say sorry after making a mistake and for it to be seen as a strength rather than a weakness. I think there will always be a certain amount of cynicism where politicians are concerned though. Anyway Gillan i wish Ipswich were in Southamptons position
In case anyone is wondering, I’ve got nothing against Southampton. Originally I was going to put West Ham, but then remembered that they’re not doing too badly, so far this season unlike Southampton…
At the great risk of making a huuuge generalisation, maybe sorry is so hard for most MP’s because they aren’t used to being held accountable. From what I can see, they have moved so far from their intended purpose that they have become their own class. Maybe if being an MP and fighting for your local people was deemed a privilege rather than a good career move, then there would be less care over image, PR and saying the right thing and far more effective and real running of the country. Rant over.
Poor West Ham!