A
male
age
30-35,
no nonsense Aidan
writes:REVENGE IS SWEET: A Greek tragedy that I think will make you think twice about that.Revenge, they say, is sweet. Well British people have, if they have been following the news, witnessed a very public case in point to prove that the reverse can be equally true. A story well worth reading if revenge is on your mind.The background:Chris Huhne was a senior politician and a high up figure in the government. Vicky Price was his wife, a brilliant economist in her own right. Their marriage broke down a few years ago when it was revealed that Huhne had been having an affair with his public relations advisor. Having made sacrifices in her own career for the sake of their children, as you can imagine Price wasn’t best pleased by this. Enter an ambitious journalist who “befriends” Price. Doubtless with a sniff for a story, the journalist would have indulged her new friend’s fury at her man, and Price started talking. She revealed to the journalist that some years ago she had accepted speeding points for her husband, a criminal offence. She claimed that he had forced her to do this. When this came to light, the couple were arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice. At trial, Huhne protested his innocence but at the last minute confessed his guilt and faces a prison sentence. Price, however, decided to protest her innocence on grounds of “marital coercion.” And so began the full series of revelations about the Huhne’s marriage and family life which, even for the most seasoned observer of political scandals, was uncomfortable to follow.Price would have to show that her ex husband was the kind of man capable of making some-one feel forced to commit a crime against their will and so she embarked on the character assassination required for her freedom. Amongst the highlights, we learned that:•Huhne had pressured Price in to having an abortion because a baby would not be good for his career.•This had happened again when she became pregnant for the second time with their son, but she had been unable to go through with it on the morning of the operation.•Huhne had bullied and threatened her in to taking the points.•Huhne had always put his career first.•He had an affair with his public relations advisor and the marriage broke down.•Tapes were played in which Price tries to trap her man in to confessing he made her take the points. These are now widely available on the internet.•Most depressing of all, text messages sent from Huhne’s son to his father show the irretrievable and utter breakdown of their relationship.This week, Price’s defence, we now know, wasn’t good enough and she too has been found guilty and faces a stretch behind bars.What does this tell us?Price’s desire for revenge is understandable, but:1) IT wrecked her rational judgement: It seems staggering to think that some-one of Price’s ability and intellect thought it was remotely sensible to, effectively, confess to a crime. And to a journalist!2) It made her single minded: Intent on ruining her cheating ex, Price has ruined herself too. A British newspaper columnist wrote yesterday that what Price’s story shows us is that if you’re going to dig some-one else’s grave by ruining them, you’d better dig your own as well.3) She didn’t consider the long-term impact of her actions, or the impact on others. Doubtless seeing him fall must have been enjoyable for her, but she was then forced to play a significantly more dirty set of tricks to save her own neck, including letting her own son hear in a courtroom and on the news, that his father wanted him aborted. There is now an angry, hurt and devastated young man and Price, by admitting her guilt, could have avoided that.This case may be exceptional in some ways: it was, firstly, a very public battle because of the political status of Mr Huhne. As for Price, nobody will remember her excellent work as a financial consultant, a champion of ethical business and a brilliant analysis of the economic crisis of her native Greece. They will remember the bitter woman who plumbed the depths because she was so consumed with hatred that all reasoned judgement went out of the window. But even so, even if the wider public don’t know about most of these ugly dramas that too often play out in courtrooms, the people that matter most do know about it: parents, extended family and, saddest of all, the kids. Of course sometimes they may not be legal in nature: a parent may simply poison their children against the other and the whole thing is kept private. It doesn’t matter. The point is that, if Price takes any comfort from her children taking her side, she should probably be on her guard because one day, they may well realise just how shockingly she has treated them by allowing this stuff to come to light, and removing both herself and their father from their lives (assuming they both get jailed).If you are going to exact revenge, you need to think firstly about the short and long-term consequences. Anticipate every eventuality, not least the fact that if you’re going to manipulate others in to accepting a version of events, how they might react if they figure out that this is what you did, maybe years down the line. Are you being blinded by your overwhelming desire for revenge? Have you considered if you are exposing others to consequences you wouldn’t wish upon them and should you hang fire and abort your quest?Are there any real villains in this story? Probably not, just severe character flaws in all the actors in the drama. Did they want it to come to this? I doubt it. But how many others find themselves staring at an ugly mess of their lives and the lives of their loved ones, which they created with no awareness they were doing so until it was too late?Most political scandals we tend to view with a mixture of bemusement and curious intrigue. This one, however, can be described as nothing other than very sad.
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abortion, affair, ambition, bullied, her ex, revenge, text, the internet Reply to this Article
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You can add your comments or thoughts to this article A
female
reader, Manya  +, writes (29 August 2019):
Thanks CindyCares!
A
female
reader, CindyCares  +, writes (29 August 2019):
 When you get caught speeding, you get penalty points added to your driving licence ( I think 3 is the minimum ). If you build up to 12 penalty points within 3 years, you may be disqualified from driving..
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A
female
reader, Manya +, writes (28 August 2019):
Hi Aidan,
I thought your article was really
interesting and like your balanced perspective!
One thing though (not being from the
UK)-- what are "speeding points"?
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