Times are really lean.

A senior politician has sent tongues wagging after he did the unthinkable.

One journalist had called the politician on his mobile but he was unavailable because he was attending to another call.

However when the politician was through with his caller, he chose the most unorthodox method to alert the journalist that he was now available for an interview.

Instead of calling the newsman, our politician unleashed a please call me text to the journalist.

This left the journalist and his colleagues reeling in shock for they could not believe that a man who was once a minister and recently defended his seat in parliament was doing this badly.