Letter: Stormont MLAs refuse to admit their mistakes, just as Donald Trump denies his errors

This week Donald Trump blamed his Democratic opponents for the US government shutdown but, rather than accepting some responsibility for the breakdown in the budget negotiations, he published a series of childish and offensive memes depicting his opponents wearing sombrero hats whilst Mexican music played in the background.

These apparently AI-generated videos are the latest way that public debate in America is being reduced to its most basic and simplistic terms.

We now live in a ‘fake news’, half-truths, or no-truths era, where public figures are regularly derided for admitting any sort of short-coming or for taking the slightest bit of responsibility for a mistake or failure.

I worry about America’s future, as if it loses its ability to acknowledge and accept responsibility for some of its mistakes, how is it going to learn and thrive into the years ahead?

I also worry that this approach to public debate is being imported closer to home. Recently the Stormont executive parties have become much more likely to blame each other for departmental failings, rather than accept collective responsibility.

Some politicians in the same executive parties blame the health minister for failing to reduce hospital waiting lists quicker, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: Home (DAERA0 minister for not cleaning up Lough Neagh or the infrastructure minister for not filling up all the potholes.

Ministers should certainly be held accountable but if complex issues are reduced to simple soundbites and difficult economic decisions in the US are reduced to immature cartoons where are we all going to end up?

Perhaps the antidote is some good honest pragmatism.

If you like, a sort of truth vaccine which will inject a much-needed dose of realism and accountability into the public and political arena.

Brian Pope, Banbridge, Co Down