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Jim Fullton's avatar

I agree with you Calum. He atoned for his error in judgment by resigning and with time that should wipe the slate clean (more or less).

Testosterone fueled errors in judgment are easier to forgive than greed fueled ones

One (atoned for) error should not a pariah make

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Steve's avatar

For me, this is not about any perceived sense of forgiveness - professionally it is competence, choice and consequence - the former Health Secretary got far more wrong than right during his tenure.

My fear is that with Hancock, as with Cummings and Frost - there is a tendency to airbrush their record whilst inferring that these same people are some form of a wise political sage full of insight and expertise simply because of the job they had at a time of national crises, irrespective of their record and decisions during a national crisis.

All that said, I do think Times Radio nails the ability to interview without needing to resort to the all too frequent combative nature on the airwaves. Whenever I see headlines like "owned" or "destroyed" to describe an interview, I tend to avoid it altogether. Stoking up division, seeking to condemn before attempting to understand - the current arguments played out nationally are often zero sum. There is no real platform for nuance or context. We need to want a better standard of debate to get a better standard of debate - and I fear that all too often the appetite for a long-form debate or interview is dismissed in favour of the short angry soundbite.

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