I wasn't drunk -- Bishop Butler
Bishop Tom Butler presented Thought for the Day on Radio 4's Today programme this morning, and was interviewed, moments earlier, by John Humphries. The answers he gives in the interview are curious: a series of non-denial denials and quite evasive responses. Were you drunk? Well, it would have been very out of character for me to be drunk. To which an interviewer might reply: Well, maybe so -- but were you drunk? As for the memory loss, the bishop says he is now having tests for amnesia and trying to work out what happened on that strange evening.
If this is a media strategy, it's badly-advised. Of course, it's possible that the bishop's account is true -- in which case, he must be challenging the veracity of the eye-witnesses to his antics with the toys in the back of an unlocked car. But, if he did have too much to drink at an Irish Embassy party -- and who hasn't? -- he'd have done himself more justice today by saying, "I made a mistake, and I'm sorry." I think the public would have smiled and said, "Fair enough, nobody's perfect." Instead, we now have a continuing mystery that is beginning to take on features akin to a JFK assassination conspiracy.
Meanwhile, i predict that an English ale will be created in the bishop's honour. Butler's Brew: An unforgettable experience.
Comments
Maybe the existing ale "bishops finger" could be a frame of reference, as he seems to be using this in an American style gesture towards our intelligence.
"To which an interviewer might (but apparently didn't) reply: Well maybe so-but were you drunk?"
Sounds exactly like every other "friendly" ´óÏó´«Ã½ interview I've ever heard to me in which those they favor get a free pass. And heaven help those interviewees they don't.
Listen to the interview - it's perfectly civilised!
"Instead, we now have a continuing mystery that is beginning to take on features akin to a JFK assassination conspiracy."
If you are referring to the one that Lee H. Oswald shot JFK acting alone from the 6th floor of the Book Depository building, then I agree!
Dont be silly Michael. Everyone knows it was the CIA that did it. ;-)
I saw him speaking on TV and was inclined to believe him. I know alcoholics do lie convincingly about their drinking, but it's not your typical drunken behaviour. It's odder than that.
Could someone else have been merry at the party, and thought it funny to doctor a bishop's drink? Or alternatively, could it be some kind of brain blip? Minor stroke or something, causing momentary short circuiting. Perhaps the knock on the head could produce odd behaviour. I remember seeing a documentary about a man who'd lost his long term memory after he'd knocked his head against an open window.
As for the evasiveness, if he can't remember the incident how could he be more precise?
Great job!