It’s all a question of truth and lies

WHAT is truth? What indeed! Yet again AW challenges us to face that perennial conundrum.

On the notion of whether or not some people feel there can be such a thing as an acceptable lie, he answers his question on my behalf ... I quote: “It seems the answer is yes”. Risky business, claiming to know the mind of another human being!

In my opinion, all political lying is deplorable. And some lies are more deplorable than others. But it is misleading in the extreme to conflate the word “lie” with “robust passionate debate”, which is, after all, the lifeblood of any thriving democracy.

Take the number on the Brexit bus. The rationale behind it was completely transparent. There was a debate about its validity. The public listened to the arguments for and against and made their judgment.

It cannot be denied that there are a whole series of half-truths out there relating to that figure.

But the Office for National Statistics itself published a figure of £18.9bn per year (gross), that’s a whopping £363m per week, as the UK’s payment to Brussels. That’s not a lie. It’s simply a part of the story.

The most deplorable lies in my book are those committed by politicians who adopt insincere policy positions in order to gain personal advancement. There was quite a bit of that going on in relation to the Tory leadership. To be fair, nobody can know for sure. We observe, listen and make our own assessment.

In the end sometimes all we have recourse to is instinct. Like when Sir Keir Starmer was standing as a Labour leadership contender. I just couldn’t relate to his policy platform at all.

It sounded to me like a copy and paste exercise. Values and beliefs were parrotted. There were platitudes, without a hint of genuine conviction. His whole offering seemed little more than a tissue of lies from start to finish expertly fashioned to get his party members onside. Harsh? Time will tell. JOHN HODGKINS, Seaton

Sluice