The Prime Minister, David Cameron, was reprimanded this week by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, for calling Labour’s Ed Balls “a muttering idiot”. A muttering idiot? I would have thought that was almost a compliment, bearing in mind most people’s view of the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer!
Really though, was it that much of an insult? In Australia and Italy for example, politicians get away with far worse and the insults are generally far more fruity resulting sometimes in bouts of fisticuffs between over-excited opponents. Now there’s a thought, how much would you pay to watch Cameron slap Milliband around the chops, or vice versa?

As far as the UK is concerned perhaps it’s just a sign of the times and an indication of how dull and lacking in wit are many of today’s politicians. Indeed, our current bunch are pygmies compared to some of the greats of old, statesmen like Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George or Benjamin Disraeli. Prime Minister Disraeli once described his opponent and former PM William Gladstone as being “inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity”. Now that was a clever insult – in fact, probably too clever for the majority of dullards present in today’s House of Commons!

As someone once said of politicians “The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs”.