Jeremy Corbyn visited a primary school yesterday and popped in to one of the classes.
They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the Labour leader if he would like to lead the discussion on the word “tragedy”. With this Corbyn asked the floor for an example...
One little boy stood up and offered, “if my best friend, who lives on a farm, gets run over by a tractor in the field that would be a tragedy”.
“No”, said Corbyn, “that would be an accident”
A little girl raised her hand, “if a school bus carrying fifty children crashed over a cliff, that would be a tragedy”
“I’m afraid not”, said Corbyn, “that is what we would call a great loss”
The room went silent for a time. Finally, at the back of the room, a small boy raised his hand and ventured, “If an airplane carrying you and Diane Abbott was struck by a friendly fire missile and blow to smithereens, THAT would be a tragedy”
“Fantastic!” exclaimed Corbyn. “Can you tell me WHY it would be a tragedy?”
“Well.....it has to be a tragedy doesn’t it? It certainly wouldn’t be a great loss and it probably wouldn’t be a ****ing accident either!