‘Remember all the finger pointing we did at Barnaby Joyce’

The last 12 months have been great for raising the voice of the over-60s community at Starts at 60, something we feel strongly about doing. During the next few weeks we are celebrating the blogs that resonated with readers the most throughout the year. This blog is one of our Top 30 blogs for 2018.

This reader letter was sent via our care to Barnaby Joyce at the height of the scandal surrounding his relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion. It was one of our most-read blogs of the year, but we wonder, with the benefit of hindsight, do you think the media coverage that surrounded Joyce and his lover was fair or foul? 

Dear Barnaby,

While waiting in line at the checkout this morning I was listening to the two ladies in front of me. They were discussing your extra curricular activities of late.

We got to chatting and we all agreed that the media seem intent on crucifying you; they need to be held accountable for the damage they do. The constant unwanted attention must be getting you down, the only good thing for us is we are getting a break from the antics of Donald Trump.

I have been reading comments on the internet that are obviously from people that should be listed for knighthoods from the Queen — they have never made a mistake in their lives — because they are all pointing their self-righteous fingers your way.

I do not in any way like your behaviour of late, but people need to realise it is your life and you alone will be held accountable for your actions.

Everybody needs to calm down and worry about their own backyards.

Call in for a beer next time you are in the area.

X

Do you agree that people need to focus more on themselves and less on the actions of those around them? Or does Barnaby Joyce have a case to answer?

Keen to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, to share your thoughts with other 60-pluses? You can sign up as a contributor and submit your stories to Starts at 60 here, and join the Starts at 60 Bloggers Club on Facebook here to talk to other writers in the Starts at 60 community and learn more about how to write for Starts at 60.