Politics and me

I spend my life teaching politics. I am entirely positive about politics and politicians; I always say that the alternative to politics is chaos, where bad people will abuse their power and we will all suffer. In addition, I have the greatest respect for politicians. They give a great deal and dedicate their lives to public service; I could not do it. Yet two pieces of news this week about our senior politicians are beyond my comprehension. First Dr Liam Fox. Whatever what might think of Fox he had achieved a serious Cabinet post, one with huge responsibility. Having achieved such a status why did he risk it with such an obviously dubious friendship. Did nobody warn him? What went wrong? Then there was Oliver Letwin doing his work in the park and then blithely dumping papers and letters in the nearest bin. Apparently they were not top secret (merely letters from constituents and the like), but even so it is hardly what one might expect. I find both of these events hard to explain to those eager to learn about politics. However, I suppose it does add spice to the soap opera that is our government; yet to my mind this is serious and  both of these men have brought politics into disrepute.