Mhairi Black
I worry about Mhairi Black.
Don't get me wrong. Although I'm not SNP, I respect the efforts the SNP have made to involve women in politics. I'm a big fan of Jeanne Freeman at Holyrood and Joanna Cherry at Westminster. I wish the Scottish Greens could recruit so many talented women. Especially younger women.
But I wonder how long the political system can hold on to people like Mhairi Black. Watching her on her feet in a Westminster committee, I began to wonder how much it would take before she got fed with all the flim-flam: all MP colleagues have to be called Honorable Members and you can't accuse them of voicing an untruth - even if they are obviously out and out liars - and the proceedings have to come to a halt while we sort out what she has called one of them, so no business is done.
I can see exactly what's happening. It no doubt happened when Keir Hardie was elected in 1892...
and still went on when Nye Bevin was elected on 1928.
Westminster has long since reached the point where 'the House' - how it runs, who runs it, what happens daily - is more important than the work the members have to do. Add that to Brexit which looms over everything, and very little government is actually being done.
A whole raft of issues is being forgotten.
What's happening to the NHS? Are hospitals still able to recruit doctors from overseas?
What is the situation over the WASPI women's pensions? Are these women going to have to work to the age of 65? 67? 70?
What's happening with austerity? Has the policy been abandoned? What does that mean for workers? Can they start to make up for the pay lost between 2010 and 2018?
Will Westminster pay attention to the UN Special Rapporteur's findings from his visit to the UK? Will Westminster slacken its grip on the poor and disabled who need financial support?
I admit I'm not optimistic.
Don't get me wrong. Although I'm not SNP, I respect the efforts the SNP have made to involve women in politics. I'm a big fan of Jeanne Freeman at Holyrood and Joanna Cherry at Westminster. I wish the Scottish Greens could recruit so many talented women. Especially younger women.
But I wonder how long the political system can hold on to people like Mhairi Black. Watching her on her feet in a Westminster committee, I began to wonder how much it would take before she got fed with all the flim-flam: all MP colleagues have to be called Honorable Members and you can't accuse them of voicing an untruth - even if they are obviously out and out liars - and the proceedings have to come to a halt while we sort out what she has called one of them, so no business is done.
I can see exactly what's happening. It no doubt happened when Keir Hardie was elected in 1892...
and still went on when Nye Bevin was elected on 1928.
Westminster has long since reached the point where 'the House' - how it runs, who runs it, what happens daily - is more important than the work the members have to do. Add that to Brexit which looms over everything, and very little government is actually being done.
A whole raft of issues is being forgotten.
What's happening to the NHS? Are hospitals still able to recruit doctors from overseas?
What is the situation over the WASPI women's pensions? Are these women going to have to work to the age of 65? 67? 70?
What's happening with austerity? Has the policy been abandoned? What does that mean for workers? Can they start to make up for the pay lost between 2010 and 2018?
Will Westminster pay attention to the UN Special Rapporteur's findings from his visit to the UK? Will Westminster slacken its grip on the poor and disabled who need financial support?
I admit I'm not optimistic.
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