# British Prime Minister going blind - Does it really matter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 13, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680 "2008-10-13T05:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/1 "2008-10-13T05:21:39Z")
[Gordon Brown’s eyesight is causing concern among aides](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3178318/Gordon-Browns-eyesight-is-causing-concern-among-aides.html) I mean he’s got people to read him stuff. Is this a big deal re his ability to govern? ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/2 "2008-10-13T05:47:25Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Gordon Brown’s eyesight is causing concern among aides](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3178318/Gordon-Browns-eyesight-is-causing-concern-among-aides.html) > I mean he’s got people to read him stuff. Is this a big deal re his ability to govern? Are you nuts? Being able to look into a foreign leader’s eyes and evaluating the quality of his soul is impossible to do if one is blind! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/3 "2008-10-13T05:53:27Z")
> [@Gozu](#): > > Are you nuts? Being able to look into a foreign leader’s eyes and evaluating the quality of his soul is impossible to do if one is blind! I looked into Putin’s eyes, and I saw fuck-all. It shouldn’t affect his ability to govern, depending, of course, on the trustworthiness of his aides. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/4 "2008-10-13T06:01:15Z")
One of our ex-Home Secretaries is blind, so it’s not entirely without precedence. Although i’m not sure how good a reference David Blunkett is. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/5 "2008-10-13T10:32:41Z")
Well, reading should be faster than having people read to you, but I doubt the PM does a lot of “reading the whole 1000-page report.” He’ll need to get more verbal digests, that’s all. Maybe he should find some “read out loud” software that can understand politicalese… Now, here’s an idea for the people here who work for MS: a boss of mine had the same problem of needing very large print. He needed to find the “resize font” menu pretty much by touch, which is difficult when you aren’t touching anything. Calling me to resize documents was faster. There are “magnifying glass” programs but they don’t work too well. Perhaps a way to resize the menus themselves, user-dependant, would come handy. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/6 "2008-10-13T11:13:52Z")
The press are going to lap it up, on both sides (heroic struggle against personal circumstances vs Magoo). Not sure if that makes any real difference, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/7 "2008-10-13T12:20:08Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I looked into Putin’s eyes, and I saw fuck-all. I did too. They were blue. We had a president that was blind as a bat and yet got elected (yet again) and re-elected even after it was clear that he was blind, very old and infirm (Time, or Newsweek - can’t remember - declared him and Thurmond the oldest, most powerful people in the planet). I didn’t like the guy, but to be fair we had seeing presidents that fucked it up real good. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/8 "2008-10-13T13:02:02Z")
In Gordon Brown’s place I’d be very concerned about getting _handled_ by the people who decide what documents are read to me and what gets into verbal summaries for me. I’d have to trust my aides’ competence and personal loyalty much more than if I’d still be able to skim long documents. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/9 "2008-10-13T13:34:35Z")
I _thought_ I heard some odd noises coming from the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/10 "2008-10-13T13:43:02Z")
My governor’s blind and he’s doing okay. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/11 "2008-10-13T14:32:30Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The press are going to lap it up, on both sides (heroic struggle against personal circumstances vs Magoo). Not sure if that makes any real difference, though. I think it could do. A lot of the criticism of Gordon Brown has been presentational: if this is true, and Downing St can get out the message that “if he looks awkward and uncertain in the crush, it’s because he can barely see” it’s going to put his percieved maladroitness in a different light. Equally, the oh-so-witty-and-apposite “Bottler” label will look rather shabby in light of the fact that he’s clearly been confronting a pretty alarming disability in private while trying not to let on in public. His banking rescue plan has been getting a lot of positive press and seems to be being used as a blueprint for other countries: if he goes into the next election as the man who overcame a private struggle to pull together an international response to a global crisis, he’ll recapture a lot of his missing gravitas. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/12 "2008-10-13T14:38:40Z")
David Paterson anyone? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/13 "2008-10-13T14:40:46Z")
Hair growth of the palms is surely soon to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/14 "2008-10-13T14:46:50Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The press are going to lap it up, on both sides (heroic struggle against personal circumstances vs Magoo). Not sure if that makes any real difference, though. I think it could do. A lot of the criticism of Gordon Brown has been presentational: if this is true, and Downing St can get out the message that “if he looks awkward and uncertain in the crush, it’s because he can barely see” it’s going to put his percieved maladroitness in a different light. Equally, the oh-so-witty-and-apposite “Bottler” label will look rather shabby in light of the fact that he’s clearly been confronting a pretty alarming disability in private while trying not to let on in public. His banking rescue plan has been getting a lot of positive press and seems to be being used as a blueprint for other countries: if he goes into the next election as the man who overcame a private struggle to pull together an international response to a global crisis, he’ll recapture a lot of his missing gravitas. ---
**Author:** ![Pimms\_o\_clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@Pimms\_o\_clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pimms_o_clock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/15 "2008-10-13T14:48:01Z")
> [@amrussell](#): > > His banking rescue plan has been getting a lot of positive press and seems to be being used as a blueprint for other countries: if he goes into the next election as the man who overcame a private struggle to pull together an international response to a global crisis, he’ll recapture a lot of his missing gravitas. But hopefully still lose. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/16 "2008-10-13T16:23:12Z")
> [@Pimms\_o\_clock](#): > > But hopefully still lose. Consider the alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/17 "2008-10-13T16:37:25Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I looked into Putin’s eyes, and I saw fuck-all. I did that last time his head overflew my house. ---
**Author:** ![Pimms\_o\_clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@Pimms\_o\_clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pimms_o_clock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/18 "2008-10-13T16:45:42Z")
> [@amrussell](#): > > Consider the alternatives. I’m voting monster raving loony and I encourage you to do the same! ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/19 "2008-10-13T16:49:19Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Now, here’s an idea for the people here who work for MS: > a boss of mine had the same problem of needing very large print. He needed to find the “resize font” menu pretty much by touch, which is difficult when you aren’t touching anything. Calling me to resize documents was faster. There are “magnifying glass” programs but they don’t work too well. Perhaps a way to resize the menus themselves, user-dependant, would come handy. Control Panel -\> Display -\> Settings tab -\> Advanced -\> General tab You can set the DPI size for the default font. Normal is 96 (100%), by using the custom size you can set it up to 200%. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680/20 "2008-10-13T17:11:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My governor’s blind and he’s doing okay. And still able to get some outside nookie! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-prime-minister-going-blind-does-it-really-matter/467680.md?page=2)