Throughout history there have been people who have emerged to reflect the grandeur of their times. Does the moment make the man or the man the moment? ■ "You ask, what is our policy? I say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime." Winston Churchill
■ "Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd, are yourselves gone! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!" Oliver Cromwell.
■ "This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilising drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy." Martin Luther King
See? Modern politicians must rue the times they live in. We are a nation at peace with itself and with other ordered nations. There is poverty but there are safety nets. There is a monarchy but there are safeguards. There is injury but there is healthcare. We are not a pariah or a grand power. There are few absolutes or fundamentals. We are a middling nation, muddling along.
But, hang on. Isn't that what politicians want us to believe?
Have politicians orchestrated a provicincial blandness because it best suits their small-town talents? Do they shrink battles to match their limited scope?
Once in a generation an issue comes along - such as one central to the essence of democracy - to test their mettle. And so it is with freedom of the press.
Yes, some in our industry took liberties that were unconscionable. They now face (existing) law.
But, as Winston Churchill (no stranger to a media mauling) said: "A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize."
Where are the grand statesman, surveying the sweep of history and providing wisdom, reassurance and leadership, making a case for measured calm in the face of sentiment and point-scoring?
Instead, we have politicians scrabbling a midnight compromise on the pizza box marching to the beat of washed-up fellow travellers and back-slapping their brilliance even as their petty deal unravels.
It is a moment when liberty is tested. And it is met with a bunch of municipal middle managers.
Historians will look back and see wars, economic cataclysm, industrial revolution, liberty throttled and wonder at the contentless character behind the shiny faces of the nation's duck and weave leaders.
Our politicians are Rio Ferdinand. They get the call, but decline the battlefield in favour of media work.
We want The West Wing, we get The Thick Of It. We need giants, we get pygmies.
