The political news in Northern Ireland today, has revolved around a public statement by the First Minister, Peter Robinson.  He regrettably announced  that his wife had had an affair, consequent depression and had made a suicide attempt in March 2009.  For those who watched Mr Robinson make this statement, it was a very moving and emotional couple of minutes, where the viewer could really have sympathy for the man.  It was an obvious reminder that no matter what we see of people in their professional capacity, they are still human beings who have normal problems like everyone else.

As easy as it would be to jump on the high horse and judge Iris Robinson for her actions, we would all do well to remember the verse in Matthew 7v5 which says “Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brothers eye”.  Although many of us have never committed adultery, we should remember that we are not without sin.  It is easy to cast the first stone.  We may think that holding a position of public office carries some responsibility to set a good example, and maybe that is true, but we cannot judge.

The honesty and humility shown by the Robinsons deserves some credit.  There aren’t many politicians who would honestly admit what had happened.  Despite their honesty, there is no doubt that it will cause problems for Peter Robinson in the political sphere.  I know that the official party line is sympathy and support for Mr Robinson, but in reality we know that this won’t last long.  Elections being held this year and deep down no-one in the party wants the Robinsons marital problems to cost votes!  Sympathy is all well and good in a perfect world, but we are all too aware that politics doesn’t live in a perfect world and scandal equates to bad press, and bad press equates to losing votes and public support.

No doubt the media will have a field day exploiting this story for a while yet.