Coffin Dodger
A death in the family can bring out the worst in people - at a time when you ae entitled to hope for and expect the very best.
The same is also true over the demise of a public figure - especially a controversial public figure.
Take the funeral arrangements for the country's former Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher - which prompted a member of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum - Darren Williams - to say on his Facebook page that Tony Blair should be buried in the same coffin - as the former Conservative leader.
Now what kind of person would say a thing like that? - you might be tempted to ask.
Well Darren is an official of the civil service union - the campaigns officer for the PCS (Public and Commercial Services) union in fact.
What a complete clown, you might conclude - and I would agree - because when people write and type such vile words they are not acting in the heat of the moment - they are acting deliberately and with malice.
Even if what they have to say is both childish and foolish - the problem is that it ramps up the level of invective and hatred - to a dangerous and intolerant degree.
Apparently Darren Williams posted the remark after Tony Blair's in the New Statesman on the importance of the Labour Party continuing to hold the political 'middle ground' - and used a picture of Tony Blair with the headline:
'Blair to Miliband: Don't move left '
Before adding the comment: 'I wonder if there might be room for another one in the coffin next Wednesday'.
Now Darren has since apologised and removed the Facebook comment, but like most cowards and bullies - he demonstrated little grace or insight into his own behaviour by saying:
"This was clearly a facetious remark, albeit a tasteless one. In retrospect, I shouldn't have posted it and I have now taken it down.
I don't think, however, that anyone could honestly believe that I was advocating Tony Blair's death.
I have never advocated anyone's death and would never do so. I apologise unreservedly for any offence I may have given."
What a chump, what a fool - and what an embarrassment to the Labour Party and his trade union, the PCS.
