We all have a shadow side. We all make mistakes. I agree that our lambasting of wrongdoers in the media is akin to putting people in the stocks and throwing rotten food at them. Stories of forgiveness don't feed the scavenger instinct and so don't attract enough attention to sell papers and attract viewing audiences. Maybe it's our job to start writing and blogging about forgiveness so that it can't be so ignored in our society.

When I use a credit card, I think very carefully about whether I can pay the bill when it comes in. I don't understand how politicians with responsibility for the public purse could have escaped this step when paying for their obviously personal purchases. I take your point Denis about the fragility of a person like you and me but I still think that elected representatives should be accountable for the way they use the our soon-to-be-increased taxpayers' money. I appreciate Karen's concern about whether such a person is fit to lead a super-city, though I wouldn't vote for John Banks' version of compassionate humanity either!

Should a minister of the crown send a sick staff member flowers? Should a minister of the crown entertain foreign dignitaries and buy the cheapest bottle of champagne? Should a minister of the crown replace his clothes when his bags go missing?

These are two of the very perplexing questions the media has investigated on my behalf over the last week. In my view the articles were Fish n Chip paper before they were written.

When people are away on state business, my view is it's part of the cost of doing state business and the state bears the cost. However, there need to be some guidelines and some limits, it's simply not acceptable for the tax-payer to pay for porn.

Which in turn raises the issue of repayments. If these people have repaid what is considered "personal" expenditure, what's the problem and what's there to forgive?

Cecily, isn't there an element of media beat-up here?

What's the problem is a person reimburses the expenditure?

I'd even go as far as saying this for the Porn too! While it's not something that I'd do and I think it was very unwise, even silly of Shane Jones to use the public purse, albeit temporarily, and while I'd prefer our MP's not engage in this sort of behaviour, it's not illegal and he paid it back.

So other than a personal issue, where's the problem?

Ah, forgive them.

Isn’t that just too lilly-white and Christian. Yuk. These ministers, there to serve the crown, flogged from the public purse. They tried to get away with it. How arrogant can they get, putting porn on the ministerial credit card.

Remember these were the same lot who wanted to regulate how much water I used in my shower, yet they can charge their porn up to the public purse. And from memory it was Shane Jones to defended the need to regulating the amount of water I could use in my shower.

Who needs the regulating? I ask you?

Least we forget, they were led by the then Prime Minister who signed a painting she didn’t draw, sped through South Canterbury and didn’t stop the police officer from doing it. Least Shane Jones admitted what he did and didn’t for example, blame his driver.

Forgive them? Personally, yes, if they want it. Publicly, certainly not. I don’t want my children to be brought up thinking they can get away with this sort of stuff.