COMMENT | Are we not fed up with petty politics and petty politicians in our midst? I don't know about you, but they get on my nerves and so bad at times that I wish I could give some of them the Will Smith slap.

Oh yes, there are many of them around, and their number seems to be growing. Why not, when the seniors among them, including former prime ministers, are also getting childishly petty themselves and indulging in petty politics.

Italian author Ingrid Rossellini wrote: "The violation that the Greeks feared most was hubris: a charged word that described the overblown size that the ego acquired when infected by an excessive amount of pride and ambition."

She also pointed to the reckless expression of egotism and impulsiveness that poses a real threat to the uprightness of reason and common sense.

I can certainly agree with Rossellini when she declared that "ego and impulse have always been a threat to democracy".

Let me start by looking at this month, April, alone, when ego and pride...