Monday, April 13, 2009

Derek In His Own Words

There's a charming interview in The Scotsman with Derek Draper and Kate Garraway, which, if you have a strong stomach, you can read HERE. Here are some of Derek's more, er, interesting quotes...

I left a trail of destruction behind me, in terms of let-down friends and broken relationships. For me, my early involvement in politics gave my life meaning. But eventually those elements fell away. First, I felt I lost my soul, then my work didn't come naturally any more. It began to feel alien. Then I ceased to be able to work and lost my energy, eventually breaking down and becoming profoundly depressed. Everyone assumes I got depressed because of the scandal. Actually, I had been depressed for two years, from around 1996. I thought I had a physical virus.

I'd always been quite arrogant and cocky, but I think I put all my unhappiness into my obsession with the Labour Party. The really spectacular breakdown came two years into my depression with the lobbying thing. That was the killer and I was admitted to the Priory; then I started to get better. I am over it now, though. I haven't been depressed for years, since just before I met Kate, who has changed me for the better anyway. I got rid of my depression by doing a lot of intensive therapy, taking the prescribed anti-depressants, doing yoga and finding solace in prayer, because I eventually realised I had been masking the depression for years with overwork, drinking or womanising.

[My obsession with work and politics] and the power-playing that went with it, and the drink, drugs and promiscuity, were all toys and inside, unbeknownst to me, the little child part of me was in the driving seat... Far from being the Master of the Universe I was more like the tyrant in the playroom. It was only when I reconnected to the child part of me, and was able to offer him the love and stability he craved, that he began to calm down, and my life began to settle. The point is that therapists are always working on themselves, just as much as they are helping their patients to work on themselves. Hopefully, it will make me not only a better therapist but a better husband and a better father. We are healers, not heroes. The old Derek is no more. This is the new Derek.

Yup. Really.

32 comments:

Cynic said...

Oh Gawd!!! Heaven help the patients!

Can we get Jacqui to give him an ASBO?

Ctesibius said...

The sad thing is, you can really see that only he could have said that nonsense. The man is an embarrassment to Lancashire and the world.

Grumpy Old Man said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ScottS said...

"We are healers, not heroes"! Ya gotta love 'im.

Plato said...

*cringe*

Tony said...

It is nice that Draper's depression has lifted, but clearly his capacity for deceit and self delusion remains a major obstacle.

He may kid himself that the tyrant in the playroom has gone, but one only has to witness his recent TV appearances and listen to him being interviewed on radio to see that he has not changed.

Grumpy Old Man said...

I want to know how a man who has lied about his qualifications as a psychiatrist is allowed to continue practicing as a health professional. Can anyone explain?

Oldrightie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Obnoxio The Clown said...

finding solace in prayer

Haaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha ... stop, Iain, please, you're killing me!

Oldrightie said...

At April 13, 2009 11:42 AM , Oldrightie said...
"Nowt so 'umble as 'em wot' get cowt out."

Lancashire saying.

As for delusion, try my diary piece! Hope the plug not too heavy, Iain!

javelin said...

Obviously he's not healed and he's leaving a trail of destruction behind him. The guy is sick and his ability to deny his own reality is being used by the labour party to deny their own. His defence mechanism to cover his pathology reflects the skills needed by the labour party to cover their sickess. Spin is not an art form it's a symptom of a sickness.

I wonder about Others mental health. Writing soft porn and appearing brash and bullying, manipulting and private briefings isn't exactly a good sign of a healthy mental state.

Events dear boy, events said...

The man is beyond parody. To think Brown had him to lunch at Chequers. It is about time Brown's role in this sordid affair was flushed out.

Donal Blaney said...

Great satire, Iain.

tory boys never grow up said...

Perhaps Mr Dale it is time you took a long hard look at yourself in the mirror? Draper's own behaviour shoudl never be used to justify your own.

Unknown said...

Well at least he isn't blaming it all on being led astray by that famous priestess of darkness Hazel Blears, as implied by Christopher Hope in the Telegraph.

JGS said...

"Pass the sick bag, Alice", as an esteemed countryman of mine used to say.

Fernando said...

Anyone read his book ‘Life Support’ There are a few chapters which Derek, himself, should re-read.

TELLING THE TRUTH
How can you tell if you are lying to yourself? If you’ve been clinging to a false reality it’s time to understand why.

ACTING YOUR AGE

BEING YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY
If you are intent on self-destruction maybe you are dancing to someone else’s tune. If you discover whose, you can change the record.

COPING WITH SHAME
We all do things we are ashamed of, but it does not make us bad people.

The final chapter is headed
CONCLUSION – WHERE TO GO NEXT?

Simon Gardner said...

Oh christ.

The moron found god.

That explains a lot.

Dick the Prick said...

Is the bigger picture that the lad's just a blithering incompetant?

Anonymous said...

finding solace in prayer

Who was he praying to? Brown? Manglebum?

Draper is desperately in need of a real psychotherapist (perhaps one who did go to Berkeley)

Sam Connelly said...

The article states that the money from selling their kid's pics to OK magazine will "go into a bank account they set up for charities they both support, such as Help the Aged and MIND."

Oh yeah??

This is the Draper who's being putting it around that he's disgruntled cos he's unpaid as editor of Labour List, and recently Garraway was profiled by the Daily Mirror for not paying income tax...

See http://tinyurl.com/c8sska

"The GMTV star paid the £173,000 tax bill after re-mortgaging her £1million home."

Yuk, Yuk, Yuk.

Anonymous said...

It's surprisingly easy to assess Draper's personality from the observer's side. But I hadn't expected the emergence of the inner child. Will his beard now fall away?

Cate Munro said...

WTF?

Charles Verrall said...

Sorry for being juvenile but ...

Could Draper be a Tory double agent? Why else would he make sure that everything he touches turns to sh*t?

Maybe when he was being 'trained' as a 'psychotherapist' he was really at a mystery location being 'turned' as part of a top secret CIA/Conservative 'black' operation to fatally sabotage Labour at the next election.

Unlikely?

That's what they want you to think.

John Pickworth said...

"I'd always been quite arrogant and cocky, but I think I put all my unhappiness into my obsession with the Labour Party."

With flawed personalities like this running the show; is it any wonder the Labour Party is crashing from one crisis to another?

Faux Cu said...

Yes, pass the sick bag please.

This is the epitome of free Scottish investigative journalism.

It is so bad that The Dundee Courier, now outsells The Herald and Scotsman.

Come to think of it, The War Cry probably does too.

Beware people south of Berwick, Gordon and his social disease of a team will use this as a model for the future.

yarnesfromhorsham said...

Iain - trust you are going to track this prat - just to see what he gets up to

Richard Abbot said...

now watch the final stages of the transformation into Derek Draper, voice of the New Age Community. Watch. It's going to be hilarious.

Faux Cu said...

Bugger

Beware people south of Berwick,

should read

Beware, people south of Berwick,

Eats, shoots and leaves.

Henry Wood said...

"Back To Basics" anyone? It's alright posting about these bit-players and I must admit I've enjoyed many enlightening hours reading about just who these people "are" and how they arrived there. But to me, the main question is: who put the idea into Gordon Brown's head that one day he could be Prime Minister? That person has very much to answer, and meantime, as I am very recently retired, I shall annoy my local library with many requests for relevant books.
Any recommendations, please?

Anonymous said...

I'm just waiting for this whole episode to get a BAFTA in the comedy section ...goddam genuinely side splitting ...

shit like this doesn't just happen .innit....theres a bunch of genius comedic script writers hard at it in a cellar somewhere ....plotting every twist and turn , I'm sure !

this is why our TV is so rubbish ...the cream are working on this, and is it so perfect in the way the comedy flows ...Pathos, sadness, laugh out loud, outrage and embarrassment..got it all !

Is this the end of fictonal political satire ? when reality is just so out there ....

needs a vet to sort it out

Did Dale go to rada ? Was Guido in riverdance ...

your all luvvies I'm sure , playing your part
.............................
PS ...wheres Mandy

time for the ugly sister to enter stage left ...


I cant wait for the climax ... my head might explode

Barnsley Bill said...

Dale, you utter utter bastard. I have just sprayed scotch from both nostrils such was the velocity of my involuntary laugh at reading the utter shite from the draper idiot.
Easter weekend in NZ this year was the finest I have had in 21 years. Not for the fantastic weather, needle, pooh and chav free beaches, nor was it because we have the finest wines made by mans hand. Not even because your Kiwi doppelganger (David farrar) took the weekend off.
No, it was because for the first time in many years the depression at what has become of my England was lifted by Guido and others. Has there ever been a better time to not be a labour supporter?
WV= DRAPERCOLT45ANDGLASSOFSCOTCH