Shirley Tart: It’s time to change the tone of debate

IN times of crisis even the seasoned commentators are stranded, a bit like confused little fishes waiting for the next tide to sweep them back out to sea, their natural homeland.

Like the rest of us, they don’t quite understand how on earth we all find ourselves in this calamitous situation.

And now, more to the point, how on earth we get out of it with some sort of dignity and common sense.

Because at the moment, it feels like all we hold dear in our great, historic Parliament, is crumbling day by day.

Yes, there have been times before when the ancient walls seemed to rock with the indignation and even nastiness but surely, nothing like this.

One furious MP (of the junior variety) declared loudly that the Prime Minister had not fought a perfect fight and should be sacked.

Fact is, it shouldn’t have been a fight at all. When did legitimate differences of opinion need to turn into the creepy back stabbing and a weird battle for supremacy?

And while even a weary and poorly leader doesn’t necessarily qualify for extra special points when the moment comes to support or not, for many of us, and leaving politics out of it, Mrs May has done her best.

Maybe her best wasn’t good enough, maybe she should have consulted more with senior colleagues, perhaps taking endless trips to Brussels and other parts of the European Union was the wrong approach when it came to deciding what to do about Brexit.

And we can disagree with all the above if we choose.

But can do it decently, with measured language and none of what is labelled back stabbing.

If the truth be known, whatever our opinions, most of us will this weekend be in a state of yet more confusion, not quite grasping exactly what it all means except that the ‘cause’ has been weakened no end.

And for now, asking each other where we go from here, remains the unanswerable question.

Pretending that we – or anyone else I’d say – know the reply doesn’t help at all.

MEANWHILE the horrific attacks in New Zealand reminded us that there are even more important issues in this world than the shenanigans of our own Parliament.

Yes, it would be good to think the houseful of MPs playing that game called ‘catch me if you can’ would also start running the country again.

But more critically, the deaths of Muslims at worship as gun shots rang out in their house of prayer for 20 minutes or longer, should have pulled us up short.

Although the Brexit affair remains a great irritation, is littered with rude and noisy so-called debates, thinks nothing of insulting a woman who seems to be otherwise without a friend, the cold and evil attacks in New Zealand were something else.

We at least will have a chance to replace some of our Members of Parliament.

On the other side of the world, good, decent men just following their faith with Friday prayers will never have those same opportunities.

Their lives are lost forever... in this world at any rate.

THE rumour mongers are on the prowl again.

Now, it seems the ‘households’ of our royal Princes William and Harry, are to be run separately and word goes around that this is some sort of family split with the wives concerned at the centre of it.

Or it could be simply a common sense move for increasingly busy Princes.