I’ve been wondering whether to blog about this all day, as it must surely be pretty obvious to all concerned what a terrible mistake it was. But, to recap, Ming asked the following question:
“Have a look at me. Do I look too old?”
How is anyone supposed to answer this? Does he look old, honestly? Yes. Do I judge people by their appearance? No.
The point, which Ming needs to remember, is that this issue was resolved last year. His age WAS a factor in the leadership election. Nevertheless, he won. Allowing himself to get annoyed about this is to go back to the bad old days of his leadership campaign where he seemed to go out of his way to make his age THE issue. Remember all that guff about how he’d have this bright young team behind him?
Constantly banging on about his Olympian glory days and about how fit and nubile he still is making the poor sod start to resemble Monty Burns. Ming can only rebut whispering about his age with deeds, not words. If it really needs to be denied, then it is undeniable. Today’s interview comes dangerously close to suggesting that even thinking about his age is an act of disloyalty. In which case, he’s just managed to expand the conspiracy against him to about 95% of the party. Genius.
I don’t know who all these noises off are, nor do I care. What matters is how Ming responds to them. Thus far, he hasn’t been doing that at all well.