Iris Robinson: cold and calculating

I must admit, there's something fairly entertaining about watching sanctimonious bigot Iris Robinson collapse in on herself. In 2008 the born again Christian claimed that all homosexual people should receive psychiatric treatment to overcome their ungodly desires. If this statement wasn't ludicrous enough, it came in the wake of a particularly nasty homophobic attack.

I have no problems with people having religious beliefs. What you do in your own home is no business of mine. In fact, I don't even mind it that much when people in positions of power come out and say incredibly bigoted things based on their religion - it makes it a lot easier to work out who the morons are if they publicly announce themselves. What I do have an issue with is when people are blatant hypocrites. And, according to some, that's exactly what Iris Robinson is.

However, it's easy to let righteous anger override our fairness. Granted, she came out and used Old Testament language to condemn homosexuals, before breaking the Good Book's rather explicit rules against adultery and fraud. Yet, she does practice what she preachers. When condemning homosexuals she suggested they seek psychological help. Now, thanks to her brush with death, it is Iris on the shrink's couch describing her sins.

What really gets me about this whole story is not that a person in a privileged position had an affair. It's not that she comitted fraud. Even the homophobia doesn't bother me too much (when I see a backlash like this one, my frozen heart melts just a tiny little bit). No, what really upsets me is that Iris Robinson tried to bury the bad news of her infidelity under the headline of "MP attempts suicide". To me, unless she's successful in her attempt, that's not really the story. The story is that Iris Robinson is not to be bloody trusted. To try and sneak that through under a wave of sympathy is disingenuous beyond belief.

Whether she actually tried to top herself or not isn't the point. Frankly, I'm willing to believe that she did. The point is: she put the suicide story out to soften the blow of unpleasant news; to limit the damage to the careers of herself and her husband. To try and score PR points from a suicide attempt is an insult to all of us who have suffered from non-politically expedient mental illnesses. And, frankly, the 'sin' of homosexuality pales in comparison to such cold calculating spin.