Mark Damazer says we need to find a different vocabulary to define political leadership and achievement.

'The rhetoric that accompanied Alistair Darling's death,' Mark writes, 'raises some age-old questions about the way we think and judge our political masters'.

He questions why 'this torrent of respect, admiration and affection' can only happen when a politician dies. 'You simply don't talk this way about any living politician', he says, 'unless you're a cultist'.

The present way of judging politicians, he believes, gives us little idea who is any good at getting the job done.

Producer: Adele Armstrong