"Brookmyre, Christopher - Boiling A Frog" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brookmyre Christopher)

younger age. We were bombarding them with condoms
and safe-sex adverts in the name of 'protection', but woe
betide anyone who dared to suggest that bolstering certain
aspects of their morality might provide a prophylaxis of
its own. After all, disease and pregnancy weren't the only
things they needed to be protected against; each other, for a
start, and more pressingly, their more experienced elders.
There was no more selfish urge in the human condition
than sexual desire, and therefore no urge more capable of
compromising all other moral considerations. In a sense,
it brought out the little Tory bastard in everyone. It was
about me, me, me: ego-driven individualism, id-driven
indulgence, and it didn't care who got hurt, neglected or
abandoned in the process.
That was why, in her 'unsexy' opinion, what went on
in politicians' bedrooms (or indeed lavatory cubicles) was
a matter of public interest, and their sexual conduct did
have ramifications for their professional character. There
was no greater test of character, in fact. If a politician
lacked the self-discipline to deny himself indulgences that
breached the contract he had agreed with the person who
was supposed to be his closest companion, what did this
say about his likely fidelity in other agreements, or even
simply about his self-discipline?
These were questions she had committed to print before
her career switch, which made her an early port of call for
hacks and politicos alike any time one of her Party got
caught with his pants down. She knew it was putting a hole
in her own canoe, but she felt too strongly about the principle to back
down from her previous sentiments. Thus her
remarks about the Robin Cook fiasco in '98- and no doubt
her scorn of the self-styled playboy image Peter Logan liked
to bask in had been noted down in New Labour's black
book, right next to the entries under 'homophobia'.
She'd once written of her concern that gay sexuality was
being 'pitched to impressionable teenagers like it was a
fashion statement or a lifestyle choice'. It had been ten
years ago, again back in her print days, which had offered
her something of an alibi when the thought police came
to question her about it. However, Elspeth could not have
looked herself in the mirror if she'd backed down. Sex,
as she had always argued, was an area where young
people were particularly vulnerable, because it was the area
where their older counterparts could least trust themselves.
Heterosexual males could be predatory enough in that
respect, but homosexual males were far more promiscuous
and, by their nature, even less inhibited by moral considerations. It made
sense that teenage boys - and that's what
they were talking about, here: mere boys - be given that bit
more protection. This wasn't homophobia, it was genuine