Iris

Still pondering the Iris Robinson story out of Belfast this week. There are a few things that confuse me. The first: why because she has a sexuality, she’s mentally ill and second: why wasn’t she cautioned for incite to hatred over her radio interview during which she expressed extremely hateful views towards homosexuals.

According to the details disclosed by BBC Spotlight she was pretty clear headed when it came to inveigling 50 grand from two property developers for investment in her young lover’s business and even more ruthless when she deemed it time for the money to be returned by him.

Initially I objected to the way the media inferred she, by virtue of the age gap, had taken advantage of this man, since it suggests no young man is attracted to a woman in her sixties which I find foolish. The double standard was obvious.

But what’s curious is when a male politician (or president) falls from grace it is never suggested he’s mentally ill. Ever. Yet she’s now pegged as in “acute psychiatric care”, incapacitated to the point where she’s not able to answer the real question around what she did taking money etc.