Gordon Brown was visiting a primary school and he visited one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked Mr Brown if he would like to lead the discussion on the word 'tragedy'. So the Prime Minister asked the class for an example of a 'tragedy' A little boy stood up and offered, "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs him over and kills him, that would be a 'tragedy'". "No, not quite", said Gordon, "that would be an accident". A little girl raised her hand. "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff killing everyone inside, that would be a 'tragedy'". "I'm afraid not", explained Gordon, 'that's what we would call 'a great loss'". The room went silent - no other children volunteered. Gordon searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a 'tragedy'"? Finally, at the back of the room, little Johnny raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said, 'If a plane carrying you and Mr Darling was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile and the plane was blown to smithereens, that would be a 'tragedy'". "Fantastic!" exclaimed Gordon, "that's right, and can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?" "Well", said little Johnny, "it has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be a bloody accident either!"
Remember I was asking (asking? Pleading, more like!) for an M400 Mellotron? Well.....
