Just face facts

By Jason Moore AS far as the media is concerned “Everything is in the Public Interest.” “Our readers have a right to know,” is the often used explanation to get round what could be described as an invasion of privacy. A film star will readily pose for photographers and give interviews when he or she is promoting their latest work, but is not available when they are away from the set, it is an invasion of privacy. But “the public likes to know,” and it is a story which the celebrity doesn't want to tell that causes the most interest. I was pondering over this state of affairs when watching Conservative Party hopeful David Cameron refusing to comment on his alleged drugs use. Cameron declines to say whether he took drugs or not when he was at university; he claims that it is all in the past before he became a politician. A sizeable part of the BBC's Question Time was devoted to this issue and Cameron was one of the guests. He is a fool to think that the media is going to leave his past alone. Unless he comes clean I sincerely doubt that he will succeed in politics. If he doesn't elaborate on this issue it will dog him for the rest of his career. At the end of the day, who cares, it was a long-time ago, long before he became an MP. But people do care, they want to know, so that they can say, “who cares it was a long time ago.” It would be a major blow for the Conservative Party if he was forced to head-off into the political wilderness because of something which he refuses to elaborate on, which happened 20 years ago. When he decided to stand for the leadership of the opposition, his life entered the realms of “everything is in the public interest.” There can be no secrets and he should just face facts before it is too late.