Heavy colds cause brain failure: official

What you don't want to happen when you're taking a forensic grilling from an astute and unsympathetic journo is to be nursing a heavy cold at the same time. Which unfortunately is exactly what happened to poor Natalie Bennett on Tuesday. Hoping to launch  the Green Party election campaign with a flying start it ended instead in sniffs, sneezes and harsh questions as to its leader's performance skills under pressure. And what about that advisor who jumped up on the dais shouting No! No! when Bennett came under questioning again about her "brain failure" at a subsequent news conference? I tell you, that girl must have seen too many episodes of The West Wing  or Veep. Here's the news, lady: things don't work like that over here. And by the way, don't you realise that your contribution just made a bad situation even worse?


Last week my wife returned from Palestine with a stonker of a cold which she duly passed on to me. There can be little doubt this is the same rhinovirus which has been afflicting a substantial proportion of the world's population, and it is a nasty one. My wife reported her own intellectual performance waning alarmingly (mine too) so perhaps we should be gentle on the hapless Bennett. But not too gentle. On Tuesday night we saw Caroline Lucas, the Green's first MP, on Newsnight, and the difference in delivery was startling. True, she didn't seem to be under the influence of a heavy cold, but even so the polish of her performance left many wondering if the Greens have really made a good decision in not having her as their leader. They have apparently benefited hugely from the recent migration away from the mainstream parties and are rumoured to have their best chance ever to make a killing at the polls in May. But not if this happens again. I think we should cut some slack for Natalie Bennett- this time and this time only. If she fucks up again, cold or no cold, she should go, and be replaced by la Lucas- before it's too late. We can't have her screwing up royally in the leadership debates- the public and the media will destroy her- along with the Green Party's chances of making a real impact.