Winner of the Week

This week I've been obsessed with this Iris Robinson scandal. For my non-British readers (aka most of you), Iris Robinson is an MP for Strangford, in Northern Ireland, and married to Peter Robinson, who is Northern Ireland's first minister. Iris is really really crazy. I wasn't going to write about her in fears of offending my Northern Irish readers (Yes, I do have an extensive Northern Irish fan base... NOT), also because I think she has some serious mental issues and I kindof felt bad.

But now Iris has gotten really really crazy. Well, more like this story has gotten a lot better.

Basically, the Iris saga started because she hates gay people. No, as she stated "love the sinner, not the sin." Oh yea, Iris is really really religious. So Iris made some public comments calling homosexuality an abomination and saying that she knew a doctor who could "cure" them. Naturally, many many people were horrified, but Iris kept being an MP.

Now a few weeks ago she resigned because of severe mental health issues. This week it turns out she tried to kill herself back in March because she cheated on her husband. When I heard this, I felt really bad for her family, but I felt she was kind of a hypocrite because while she was preaching about one kind of supposed "sin," she was committing a very serious (in my mind real) sin of her own. Also, Peter Robinson seemed really really devastated during the interview he gave for Northern Irish journalists, which is extremely understandable.

But now the story has verged into soap opera territory. Iris's lover was NINETEEN. She's SIXTY. COUGAR! I honestly figured he was an older very religious man who she met at church. This is a ridiculous twist! Her children are probably older than him. Also, she got her friends to lend this Kirk McCambley of South Belfast money for his commercial venture. Anyways, I realize this is very difficult for the Robinson family. But it's a pretty intense scandal given all the points.

Also, I suppose from a governmental stance she broke five codes of conduct. And when their relationship turned sour, she asked for the money back and then asked that he give half the money to her and half to a church in Belfast where her husband's sister is a pastor (via BBC). And as the BBC points out, prior to these allegations most people it seemed to be just a sad, private, family matter. But now the charges are of pretty serious breaches of conduct, particularly for such a prominent political family. But, no matter what, to state the obvious, this is a nightmare for the Robinson family.

Anywho, here's the Times article with the latest twist. Also, here's the BBC article, I'll give Iris credit, Kirk is pretty good looking.