Wholly Rude

There’s nothing quite like seeing a politician take a tumble, especially a proud one. A video of Humza Yousaf, the SNP’s Health Minister in the Holyrood Government, was shared online, and went viral. He is seen travelling down a parliamentary corridor at speed on a kind of scooter, with an injured leg resting upon it. An aide carries his belongings, but, going too fast and contrary to the device’s instructions, his good leg catches the wheel and down he falls. Mr Yousaf’s pride was possibly more bruised than his body, and he responded on Twitter:

“just not sure there is need or purpose to tweet out a video of me falling over while injured”.

Fair enough. Seeing people fall is funny, but were people like me having too cheap a laugh at an injured man’s expense? What shame I felt after his smarting remark evaporated when it came to light than Yousaf had mocked another politician who was videod falling back in 2018. After Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross slipped over while running on a football field, Mr Yousaf tweeted:

“Best moment of the 2nd half - Douglas Ross MP decks it a belter! Can’t wait to see the meme...”

Classic. If another man falls down, and he has the misfortune to be videod, it’s fine to laugh. If it happens to oneself, laughing is out of order. Humza Yousaf has many disagreebale opinions and polices, which are his right to hold and his duty to enact. This month’s fall, however, exposes the heart, which essentially says "what I do to others, don’t do to me."

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay