Charles Kennedy 'RESPECT'

[4blue1pink]

Not a lib dem supporter but i like him and respect him for this.

Poor Chuck

I agree with anorak, and I would be horrified if I found out my surgeon was an alcoholic and would feel it was my right to know and not to be treated by him/her.
he was proposing himself as leader of the country to the electorate while hiding this incredibly relevant fact about himself.

It is also clear he was NOT functioning well, as his fellow MPs are trying so desperately to get rid of him. there is no way they would expose their party to this kind of awful publicity if he was coping.

Yes, I agree with anorak. I think alcoholics are often very manipulative, and are usually disastrous people to have in a team. I feel sorry for the poor old LibDem party trying to function as a team with Charles Kennedy screwing them all over. And with David Cameron as Tory leader, it's do or die for them, IMO.

What did Simon Hughes do that was so terrible? (Genuine question). I've always been quite impressed by him, esp on immigration/asylum seekers. Has a touch of the Tony Benn in his mannerisms, I think.

I will mail you Tink. To tell you online would make me as bad as him IYSWIM.

I think its madness to think that an alcoholic is a good choice to run a party.

He needs to concentrate on himself, beating his drink problem, and his poor wife and family instead of clinging on to power with his trembling hands.

I am sure there are lots of excellent people in the party who will do a better job of it.

Unlike Winston Churchill, his alcoholism is clearly a hindrance to his judgement, skill and focus.

As I have mentioned before I know for a fact he was extremely drunk at a party in December so is clearly lying to himself about the time he has given up drinking.

Not sure if he's lying to himself Enid - but definitely lying to us.

TBH I'm not remotely surprised that he's lying.

Of course an alcoholic isn't a good choice of party leader. But neither are lots of other types of party leaders. Megalomaniacs, for instance.

I'm not sure if Churchill's judgement wasn't affected by his alcoholism - it must have been from time to time. But presumably, he had other people around him whose judgement wasn't hindered and who also had a say in the matter. Which is also what CK has had, and has more or less protected him up till now.

Really it's amazing that they've managed to hush it up all this time.

I don't think that it is in the least bit proven that Churchill was an alcoholic anyway. As I understand it, his dr didn't think so. And Churchill lived past 90! And he wrote "more published words than Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck combined" - all while working as a politician.

Yes but I think his doctor might have had been pretty reluctant to think that the great man was an alcoholic - much easier to descibe his habit of as being that of a convivial bon-viveur, rather than hopeless drunk. The stigma then was even greater than it is now.

It's not unknown for alcholics to live to a great age and write brilliantly. Jean Rhys springs to mind. So does Dorothy Parker. It's possible to drink for years and years and still not die of it or have the mind too badly affected. (Although of course there's an argument about how much better these people might have functioned without being dependent on booze.)

But is there any evidence he was an alcoholic? Yes, he drank and liked drinking, but it isn't the same thing. His dr wrote an - apparently not entirely favourable - biography of Churchill.

and whatever the truth, CK aint no Winston Churchill.

Hmm, I suppose it very much depends on definition and definitions have changed a lot since his day. One doctor is reputed to have said that there's no way he could have been an alcoholic because "there's no way an alcoholic could drink that much" and that sounds flippant but it's a good point - at a certain stage of alcoholism with many alcoholics, their body stops being able to put away the vast amounts it previously had and they gets drunk on very small amounts of alcohol, making them look abstemious and as if they're not used to drink to people who aren't in the know (this happened to a friend of mine - having put away a minimum of 3 or 4 bottles a day for about 5 years, she began to get drunk on one or 2 glasses of wine towards the end of her illness, and people would say "oh your friend's really not used to booze, is she?")

The definition of one is blurred - I repeat myself but i know a significant number of people who i class as having a drink problem but who a lot of people would simply say ' enjoys a drink'

Cant go a day without....have a couple once they have started ....feel crappy next day.... get home feeling exhausted - reach for a bottle of red ...

I think its socially acceptable ( too socially acceptable) to drink too much too often.

having said that i think Chuck has done well for that party and ' forced into admission' or not he is going in the right direction with his problem which the majority are not!

Sorry Caligula these threads crossed but at least we agree!

i think i am more concerned at impact of alcoholism on his wife and baby than on his leading the Lib Dems!

Yes good point!

His wife must be living in a kind of hell. It's bad enough to go through this, but to be doing so when your husband has a job like that and the secrecy was imperative and then you have to work through it in front of millions of people many of whom will see it as a joke... poor woman.

I feel a BBC drama coming on.

Damien Lewis IS Charles Kennedy......

co-starring Angus Deayton and Simon Hughes.

Yes that's true caligula, it's because parts of the liver barely function any more so any alcohol consumed is only processed by a tiny portion of the liver. (I expect you know that.)

But CK is relatively young so I doubt he's in that position yet. My mother was in her 50s before her liver got that bad. And it's true to say that liver function varies enormously between individuals. If you start off with a strong liver you can survive alcoholism for decades.

While I realise this is awful for his wife, I can't put concern for her above concern for the millions of people CK potentially wants to make decisions for while he is pissed senseless. I keep reading the messages here expressing worry for his family and thinking, 'how like mothers to think of her first!'

Is there a swimming pool in BB house?

There IS a swimming pool! Blimey- never made the connection. GG entering the BB house was the best car crash telly moment ever. My partner went from a sneering "Why do you watch this crap?" (while, of course, watching said crap right along side me) to "Fuck me! It's George Galloway. What a stroke of genius!" in 1 second. Feel sorry for Charlie. Do you think no one said anything because he's well liked? Can you email me about S Hughes too, Marina? One of my boys hurtled headlong into him while running along a train about 4 years ago. He was so sweet about it that I've rather liked him since but feel I should know the worst.