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This... this is good news.
A dreadful politician, motivated solely by a self-serving careerist streak, who found herself hopelessly out of her depth in any public address she found herself doing.
And that's probably putting it lightly.
Whilst I disliked Mensch a lot
"A dreadful politician, motivated solely by a self-serving careerist streak"
This unfortunately is all prominent politicians.
http://i.imgur.com/R86iF.jpg
Damn you
That's an annoyingly funny retort.
:D
Excellent stuff :D
And, moker, your cynicism is incorrect. There are a lot of decent politicians who manage to balance the self-service to further their career and their desire to serve the people/electorate.
Mensch wasn't one of them. And plus, Mensch wasn't a prominent politician. She was prominent in the media, sure, but she was a backbencher for life.
I'd really like to think that'd be the last we heard of her
But of course we all know it won't be. Oh well.
What a week this country is having.
It's like a wonderful dream. If it wasn't for GB losing on penalties acting as a kind of totem I'm sure a lot of people would be convinced this is all a dream.
She's going to invest her time promoting her new social network, a rival to twitter called menshn.com/
I'm sure it'll be a roaring success
I.....thought you were joking.
:/
WOOOHOOOO
Part of me is wishing that she'd chosen to stay on.
The more self-immolating idiots within the party the better, frankly.
Nah.
No matter what side of the spectrum, I want my politicians to be motivated by making the world a better place... even if their opinions conflict strongly with mine about the best ways to make that happen.
Mensch is fucking horrible, and politics (and the people of Corby) will be better off without her around. Tory or not.
I don't particularly care if they're trying to make the world a better place
if their idea of a better place is vastly different to mine.
Fair enough...
...but even at its worst it's still a preferable train of thought to that of the politician who is only doing it to further their own career, represent themselves and not their constituents and tick it off the list as something to have done... if you get me.
See also - Sebastian Coe.
Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying from a personality point of view.
Just saying I would prefer a careerist who I generally agreed with, to someone whose views were heartfelt and genuine, but abhorrent (to me).
I vehemently disagree with this sentiment.
But we're all different, I suppose.
To use an extreme example, what I mean is
that I'd prefer my MP (I live just outside Glasgow) to be a careerist Labour or SNP politician (even though I'd certainly dislike them), rather than a BNP politician who genuinely believes in what they're doing, and believes they're making society a better place.
I think the flaw with this
logic is that people overwhelmingly vote for parties and for who they think the Prime Minister should be - not for the actual specific local representative they get. People vote Conservative because they believe in the values of that party, and they may very well end up with someone who is only serving their own interests. It's a failing of our electoral system for sure, but there is the argument that people should be a bit more canny about which way they vote...
If you found yourself with a BNP MP, then I'd most definitely think that there'd been a greater failure somewhere else down the line that actually allowed for them to come to be representing me - which would render this argument somewhat obsolete. But yeah I see where you're coming from - my original post was in reaction to marckee's assertion which seemed to suggest that if the Conservative Party buckled and crumbled under the weight of being full of self-serving horror shows like Mensch that politics in the UK would be better. Which is something else I fundamentally disagree with.
Okay, I kind of agree.
We've not really been arguing the same point as each other, I think.
Welcome to drownedinsound.com
:D
wow 40 more characters? big deal
what good does that do me?
One thing that has always confused me about Mensch is
I have never witnessed someone of not particular prominence who struggles so much with public oratory so desperate to do ever more of it
Shall we start taking bets on how long before she's on I'm A Celebrity...?
She's like a female Kilroy
:(
I liked how irked she made me
^^^ irked!
Excellent news
A good day.
First the Mars rover lands, now this!
oh god
an endless procession of columns and op ed pieces beckons, maybe some 'memoirs' and probably a dreadful new novel
CAN'T WAIT
It'll be interesting to see if she gets a job working for a Murdoch organ
no, interesting is not the right word there
hopefully an obituary
Sort of irks me that this is *Big News*
Backbench MP quits wouldn;t be if it wasnt for her self generated media profile.
I think it would be pretty big news whoever it was
as her majority is under 2000 so the seat is pretty risky given all the trouble the government is in at the moment.
Not the top story on BBC news website big though
I would say Labour will absolutely smash the by election. Maybe like a 7% swing.
How many MP's stand down in the middle of a parliamentary term?
For reasons other than health or jumping before they are pushed pending some high-profile dirt digging? Really can't be that many...
Not many at all, it's pretty rare.
Cool - thanks!
List of MPs who have taken the Chiltern Hundreds since 1850:
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04731.pdf
good
not as good as if she'd quit to retire from public life forever, but better than nothing
Pretty weird.
Apparently some people have been saying that they aren't surprised.
At first I thought you could have a legitimate reason to be pissed off if you were from Corby, but, no matter your political opinions, I guess its best to have people whose hearts are truly in the job being MPs. If you lose that passion, perhaps it is the best thing to stand down.
had no idea she was married to the guy who started Q Prime Management
his Manhattan triplex probably has a Scrooge McDuck style money pool, not surprised she chose to flee Corby for that
Only real surprise is it's come this early.
Thought she'd last till the next general election before stepping down.
Just shows her selfishness...
...leaving the party open to a by-election in a marginal seat with a large working class population at a time when the electoral tide appears to be turning? Brilliant. Couldn't have wished for anything better.
I mean, sure, life and family comes before work but... politics kind of implies that you take a break from that to serve something a bit wider. Sounds to me like she's had enough at a very early juncture, in a manner of someone who opened a florist after they quit their job in the city and realised how much hard work it was afterwards.
The woman is an absolute fucktard.
Olympic feelgood factor though
any Gold Medalists in the Conservative party?
I hear Ming Campbell's coming out of retirement.
By-election's in November I think...
...plenty of time for sport to be forgotten.
I hope.
That in 2012, a woman MP has felt that she has to quit her career because it is incompatible with the needs of her family
YEAH GREAT NEWS!!!
Yes but in this case it's a blatant bullshit excuse.
The 'needs of her family' are in this instance
that her husband lives in New York.
Yes
He has a career. She has a career. She's moving to New York because her career is incompatible with her husband's. Her husband hasn't moved to London. We haven't made politics accessible to people who have to juggle these responsibilities.
That's because hardly anyone has to juggle the responsibility of being married to Metallica's tour manager.
What do you think "we" should have done to make politics more accessible to Louise Mensch?
Ban the troll
You have the power.
I like DarwinDude
I just think her reading of this is way off.
Yeah, I just want you to start abusing your powers
Be careful what you wish for.
Using them against Royter isn't abuse of those powers.
You've just made an enemy
:D
Her husband makes an absolute fuck-tonne of money managing stadium-sized bands though
She has a 'career' in politics which basically amounts to her trying to be in the public eye as much as possible. If it was the other way round I'd still imagine her husband would jack in being an MP.
I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about Louise Mensch.
You might well have a valid point overall but it's a bit silly to state that as a fact based on one example.
For one thing, as said above, her husband's comfortably the biggest earner and his job pretty much needs him to be in the US.
For a second thing, it surely says more about the decisions made in their marriage than something about the overall state of politics in this country.
For a third thing, there isn't really a way you could be a constituency MP and spend most of your time in New York.
While I don't agree with DD's general point.
It's also true that her job definitely requires her to be in the UK, unlike her husband's which as 'tour manager' probably requires travelling more than anything or at least a phone. Moreover and MP's wage is surely fine for two people to live off so it's not like they couldn't downscale and he stops being Metallica's tour manager.
In this instance it definitely feels to me like it's got to be her choice and has nothing to do with her husband's job or requests.
This is a minor point, but I should say I got it wrong earlier –
he's Metallica's manager, among other acts, not their tour manager.
Minor enough to destroy my argument
and meaning you get gold on the execution score alone. OR SUTIN.
ok then
:|
I really fail to see how *we* could do anything to remedy that though?
Have a whip round to get him flights from New York? Put Parliament on a boat?
Also, if you're having trouble juggling family time with a Parliamentary career,
why would you spend your spare time setting up an online vanity project?
http://tinyurl.com/7hsunud
Her career is writing demeaning chick-lit.
Being an MP is her delusional self-aggrandising hobby.
to be fair to her (ugh)
she had a pretty solid background in politics before she was elected, just on the organising/campaigning side.
(not that I'm disagreeing with your reasons for standing
just that it does seem to be vaguely a career-type thing for her)
Just stop posting. Please.
^ not this.
can't be doing with this on monday morning.
That in 2012 we have so few female MPs that an individualist, ignorant, self-serving embarrassment of a woman
has to be held up as a victim of patriarchal oppression in the labour market.
YEAH GREAT NEWS!!!
Why on earth have you bought gender into it?
It's got nothing to do with gender.
The woman, in 2010 (and the years leading up to it) managed to convince a group of constituents that she was the person to represent their needs for the duration of the next political term. That she has broken that promise because she was unable to foresee the strains that the demands of being an MP would have on her family is her fault and her fault only.
Don't get me wrong, I sympathise to an extent because she might be in a pretty horrible situation with it all. But it's a situation entirely of her own idiotic making so... fuck her.
And, it's got nothing to do with her gender either.
I find the "family" dimension interesting
because they're not his kids, they're from her first marriage, and a shitty Mail piece I found earlier suggests they not only didn't go to the ceremony but that they didn't even know it was taking place. So I can't imagine it's as a result of them pining for their new daddy or anything.
Compassionate Conservatism in action there.
When they're not leaving their kids in pubs, they're not inviting them to their own weddings. Terrible stuff all round.
There might be an argument to be made
that women in Parliament have a harder time balancing the roles of MP, spouse and/or parent than the men do, for various reasons. But this specific example really doesn't seem like it'd represent anything like a universal experience.
Exactly that.
Incredible how much you guys are falling over each other here to disagree with me saying its problematic
Do you actually think there only 'might' be an argument to make about parliament being less accessible for most women? I think there's some stuff about that somewhere...
If we're going to nit-pick over the rhetorical use of the word 'might'
than I've got a serious bone to pick with you regarding your employment of the word 'incredible'.
:D
Fucking hell
You know what, as soon as I posted that I thought *I should have just said "There's an argument", but I'm sure people will get what I mean*
They're falling over each other to disagree with you because your argument was weak.
I know that I'm guilty
but I still want to commend you on how many ANGRY MEN replied to you.
thing is, she's not trolling
Regardless, I'm now annoyed.
When it was just 2 or 3 people replying, I thought perhaps there was scope for genuine conversation. Now every man on DiS has waded in I can see what a fool I've been.
I'm never sure.
It's clear from a lot of her posts that she's obviously very clever, intelligent and makes good arguments but then she'll sometimes completely fail to grasp the subtlety or nuance of an argument or make massive sweeping generalisations that seem out of kilter with the rest of her posts and I can't work out whether it's genuine or prodding people a bit to see how they react...
She sounds like pretty much every person ever then
You lost me at "very clever, intelligent and makes good arguments"
but if you want to put DD in the same category as, say, [REDACTED] then I guess that's up to you
[name deleted in case his military superiors are reading this]
Haha yeah the post itself was a fail but the ANGRY MEN REPLIES
switched it back to a win. As always.
Yeah
She nailed everyone with that. I'm pretty inclined to agree with her as well
:D
http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=341
:DD
This has all been worth it
Oh mah days
I was going to post that very comic but thought that it might be rude. Can we be friends?
`I can't be arsed with this bollocks anymore, it has raised my profile and decorated my CV as much as I required, now I can slip into a life of total self-importance without any perceived moral responsibility... I'll blame it on family or w/e idk`
this is a great example of why women should be paid less than men
imagine just dropping all of your commitments like that to go and be a housewife. unbelievable.
Don't be silly.
now that's trolling.
Call me soft in my old age, but
I had respect that she was fully prepared to say on Question Time that she had taken Class A drugs before, even though she went ultra-puritanical based on solely her bad experience.
delete "even though", insert "until"
ha, yes, you're right
Nah.
She'd be open about taking drugs several times before, but that was the first time she'd ever expressed anything other than "so what?". Felt like she was being dishonest trying to score political points.
absolutely LOVED this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WvAkhW-XNI
Danny Baker :D
Love Ian Hislop starting a joke
then pulling out: "It's just so obvious"
A friend of mine was at that recording.
Apparently they cut a whole load of more embarrassing moments before it was actually broadcast.
AND SHE HAD A FACELIFT
it just wasn't mensch to be
100
Remember when she made up parts of Piers Morgan's book on the select committee and accused him of phone hacking
Then when he asked her to repeat the accusation outside of Parliamentary protection she started going *Oooo I'm so scared!* and refusing to do it?
Louise Mensch actually managed to make Piers Morgan right. That is some achievement
I kinda hope that she and Piers Moron end up presenting a show together.
Like a twat quarantine.