Ted Cruz breaks golden rule

There are a number of golden rules for all politicians. Perhaps the most important of all, apart from being magnanimous in defeat, is never to be away on holiday when your constituents are dying from hurricanes, snow blizzards, tornadoes, floods, Siberian weather that kiboshes all power supplies, etc etc. Texas over the last week has had a torrid time, trying to survive without any electricity or water because every pipe froze solid in the worst snowstorm since... well since no one can quite remember. You don't really associate a state like desert-hot Texas with snow of any kind. Texans have died. But Senator Ted Cruz (Texas), not the most amicable of politicians who still believes that he might one day be president of the United States, tiptoed out of Texas and headed on a flight with his family to Cancun, the tourist resort in Mexico, for a quiet sunny sojourn. Oh dear, big mistake. And not helped by the second error on his part which was to deny that he had intended to stay there but was just safely delivering his daughters to the beach before heading straight back to snowy Texas. Then it turned out he had actually planned to stay for the weekend, presumably delivering his daughters to the beach each day. Anyway when it became public that he was in Mexico in the warmth, he high-tailed it back to the US of A and did the TV interview rounds to apologise for his bungle and to acknowledge that his place should have been with his fellow Texans while they suffered, and in some cases, perhaps as many as 100, died. Cruz is not that good at being contrite but he did his best. It's a lesson he will never forget. These days, you can't just sneak off to a resort when those you represent are buried in snow. Social media snoopers will spot you and give the game away. It's impossible to do anything in secret anymore. At least Cruz didn't go on a five-star cruise. Then he would have been stuck on a luxury ship and apologies from the deckchair would have been tough to swallow.