I think the issue is not what someone smoked, snorted or otherwise consumed 20 years ago, it's the hypocrisy in their "holier than thou" attitude they take when in power at the justice, education department or foreign office, etc, and also the unfairness compared with the difficulty some youngsters have getting a job with a criminal record for minor drugs offences. Forget whether Johnson sniffed something stronger than icing sugar, by virtue of his and others' membership of and antics as part of the Bullingdon Club, if mummy and daddy's allowance hadn't covered paying off restaurant owners they'd allegedly have criminal records barring them from most management jobs. If you're going to have zero tolerance for kids and others aon the streets of Brixton then one has to apply the same standards to the shires of the country where a blind eye is often turned against breaches in hunting laws or, worse still, violence against animal welfare protesters, and parties didn't get raided by the police looking for drugs because they're probably attending them and turning a blind eye. The unfairness whereby the middle and upper classes escape prosecution while working class kids are prosecuted for minor offences undermines the law and creates the cynicism about politicians and authority of all types.
Michael Ixer ● 2711d