Would Laws have been good for Britain? Probably yes.
Should he have been driven out? No.
Is it time the media quit?
Yes.

nothing is forgivable in the media especially for politicians and celebrities (..maybe Posh & Becks, Jordon and Peter Andre excepted but their day may come if they aren't careful

It's not a good look for Laws to have his career destroyed so early in a new government when having made a mistake he may actually work much harder in his portfolio to show "forgiveness".

So the new lot are still in the grip of daily tabloids. Business as usual for them and the Murdochs of the world.

Just look at the USA..when in it's history would an idiotic media entity like Fox News survive and actually have influence?

I feel very sorry for Laws, but what's even more worrying, and has barely been discussed so far in the media, is the fact that the Coalition Government is so obsessed with maintaining the Lib-Con balance it's replaced a Liberal eminently well-qualified for his position with, er, someone else, who isn't, but is a Liberal. This just can't go on. Cabinet posts in the 21st Century need the specialists available, not someone who happens to come from the same party. I thought both of these parties claimed to be meritocratic. Well act like it then!

One of the first jokes doing the rounds:

CLEGG: What laws do you want to scrap first?
CAMERON: David.

Laes will become the new "Mandy" - he'll be back in government within months.

good piece in the Guardian by Michael White:

Watching David Laws handling his ministerial debut with such calm, even chilling authority, over the coalition's cuts agenda in the Commons on Wednesday, I murmured, possibly out loud: "Someone will get him for this."

Someone? Perhaps the Labour opposition, angered by perceived arrogance and an apparent volte face over the Lib Dems' more cautious attitude towards financial retrenchment during the campaign. Possibly disgruntled MPs on his own side.

More likely - much more likely - the press, which particularly dislikes to see tall poppies flourishing when it did not help to grow them. By moving from a mere Lib Dem spokesmanship to one of the most important jobs in the coalition cabinet the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury had made himself a target.

Unattractive, isn't it? And yet it has happened. Delving into its bootlegged expenses CD - the one released or sold to expose the "old politics" under Labour - the Daily Telegraph has struck a serious blow at both the Lib-Con coalition and the supposedly "new politics" - just 17 days in.

linky-

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/ma...ael-white-david-laws

That would have been perceptive of Michael White had he said it before Laws went.

Ahhh, the media does it again. Nothing like a good scandal story to get their juices (and circulation) flowing!

Whats the best thing to do with a newspaper?

BURN IT!

In The Know wrote:
Laes will become the new "Mandy" - he'll be back in government within months.

I'm not so sure...I believe the offerings up to Beelzebub to summons up that spirit were immense..chickens , goats, party worker's newborns...

Had Laws given this money to a female partner, I doubt he would have gone. Once again the choice of someones bed partner creates this sort of situation.

steveimp wrote:
Had Laws given this money to a female partner, I doubt he would have gone. Once again the choice of someones bed partner creates this sort of situation.

I don't think that's right in this particular instance. There are plenty of examples in the expenses row that suggest sexuality, for once, isn't the relevant issue.

hmmm the Telegraph's protests about Capital Gains Tax would be easier to take seriously if they hadn't advised their readers to "become a butterfly and flit between homes" (see below)

There is a media agenda afoot here.

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfina...eet-second-home.html