Louise Mensch to quit as an MP, triggering Corby by-election

[T_i_B]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19146805

Conservative politician and novelist Louise Mensch is to stand down as an MP, the party has announced.

The MP for Corby is moving to New York with her three children to be with her husband of a year, Peter Mensch, who is manager of rock band Metallica. Her decision to quit will trigger a by-election in the Northamptonshire constituency, a marginal seat.

Before entering politics she made her name as a best-selling chick-lit author, under her maiden name Bagshawe. The MP, who won her seat in 2010 with a 1,951 majority, said she was finding it increasingly difficult to juggle family responsibilities with her political career and her decision to quit politics was "devastating but necessary".

The by-election is expected to be held on 15 November - the same day as elections for police and crime commissioners are held across England and Wales.

[LeftishBrit]

1. Hope the Tories lose that seat - it was Labour before 2010, I believe

As far as I'm concerned, Louise Bagshawe/Mensch was a crap writer AND a crap politician, and good riddance to her!

[non sociopath skin]

2. Just what Young Dave needs LOL

I used to live near the constituency - a tribute to the art of the gerrymanderer with the solidly-Labour anomaly that is the ex-company steeltown of Corby yoked together with the public school town of Oundle and various chintzy commuter villages surrounded by wealthy agricorps.

Bagshawe/Mensch won not-terribly-handsomely there last time, thanks to a LibDem surge back in the dear dead days when Nick Clegg was seen as an asset, not a bad joke.

Electoral Calculus see it as a no-brainer loss for the ConDems and I imagine they're right. Can't see a George Galloway figure coming out of the woodwork thereabouts.

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

3. MP Louise Mensch resigns claiming best thing for her family is to ‘leave UK’

MP for Corby Louise Mensch has submitted her resignation to the Prime Minister, claiming the best thing for her family is to move to a different country.

Mensch, who only became an MP in 2010, has been a high profile back-bencher and a vocal part of the Commons Media and Culture Select Committee, impressing many with her ability to ask questions and look stern.

In a statement released to the media she said, “I have backed the government’s austerity plans 100%, and I will continue to do so from a place where they no longer have any effect on the environment my children grow up in.”

“I have complete confidence in this government to turn the country around, and I will be watching intently from a safe distance in my New York penthouse to see how things progress.”

Read more: http://newsthump.com/2012/08/06/mp-louise-mensch-resigns-claiming-best-thing-for-her-family-is-to-leave-uk/#ixzz22m0C4JQ1

[LeftishBrit]

5. Says it all!

[non sociopath skin]

6. Many a true word is spoken in jest!

The Skin

[Jeneral2885]

4. Allowed to be back home when parliament was in session

?

Here resignation letter said she was allowed to be back in Corby every Thursday and Friday. Isn't that a breach of regulations for MPs?

[oldironside]

7. Anyway you look at at it...

... it's a gigantic result for decent people everywhere.

1. She's leaving Parliament.
2. She's left the Tories with a dreadful bi-election to fight.
3. She's leaving politics and taking her hateful philosophy with her.
4. She's leaving not only the country, but also the continent.
5. She's show up what an unbelievable hypocrite she is. She obviously cares so much about the UK she's getting out.

Good riddance to her.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

8. I'm glad to see the back of her narcissism and her faux-feminist posturing

Goodbye Hoorah Palin.

[Battleaxe]

9. Good Riddance!

It says it all when she actually has to move to a different country to get away from the Conservative's selfish policies! And good riddance!

[tjwmason]

10. Welcome to Democratic Underground

[oldironside]

11. Ditto. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

12. Welcome to DU!

And I agree about the Tories, and about good riddance to Mensch.

[oldironside]

13. You don't like Tories?

You never told me that. It's amazing what you learn on these boards.

[LeftishBrit]

14. Well, I've been so subtle about it, I admit it would be hard to pick up the cues.

But surprisingly enough, I don't. What about you?

[oldironside]

15. Let me think about that.

[LeftishBrit]

16. You do have quite the collection of nauseating pics!

Indeed, those are lower than vermin - though still higher in the evolutionary scale than Romney 'n Ryan!

Incidentally, at least to anyone who like me has some Jewish background, the name 'Mensch' is almost hilariously unsuitable for that MP: 'a real mensch' means 'an exceptionally honourable person/ a truly noble character' - which she most certainly is not!

[oldironside]

17. Germans still use Mensch to mean...

... mate,bloke geezer, etc.

Of course, it still has bad associations. The N*zis were great for euphamisms, so Untermensch und Übermensch loomed large in their ideology.

Off topic, but something that could make you smile:

The Constitutional Court has ruled that a bunch of neo-Nazis are allowed to march in Koblenz tomorrow. As you can imagine, I'm not over the moon about this, but then this appeared on my facebook page.

LÄRMDEMO GEGEN NAZIAUFMARSCH IN KOBLENZ
Teilnehmen ist ganz einfach: Fenster auf und Lärm machen...ich weiss es wird ganz schwer, denn die Zahnärzte und Freiberufler aus der Mainzer Strasse sind wahrscheinlich alle noch im Urlaub oder gerade Brötchen beim Bio Bäcker kaufen

Freely translate (I've had some beer by this point...)
Noise Demo Against Nazi March In Koblenz.
It's easy to take part. Open your windows and make nose. I know it will be difficult because the dentists and professionals on Mainzer Strasse will probably all be on holiday or buying bread at the organic bakery.

As for that Mensch woman, her surname should be Rand. As George put it...

That woman needs some therapy. The world doesn't revolve around her perfectly designer clad bum. She needs a bit of empathy.

[non sociopath skin]

18. Paradoxically, Mrs Skin still uses it a lot to mean a fellow Jew.

Ironic or what?

The Skin

[oldironside]

19. Yiddish...

... is a German language, so they share a common root.

I remember seeing a guy interviewed on German TV years ago. He was a Yiddish speaker, but the questions were all in German and even without the subtitles you could get 60% of what he was saying. There are modern German dialects which are more difficult for a foreigner to understand.

[non sociopath skin]

20. German and Hebrew combined, with a bit of Eastern European promise thrown in ...

... though, from the little I know, the grammatical structure does owe much more to German. I presume that the other word that Mrs S uses for a fellow Jew, a "landsmann" also comes from German via Yiddish.

Apparently Mrs. Skin's grandma, an emigrant to the States from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, refused to have it spoken in the house, referring to it as "spoilt German".

As I recollect, the pioneer Israelis rejected it as a possible national language too, regarding Hebrew as a classier option.

I've picked up quite a lot of Yiddish words from the missus, "schlepp" being a particular family favourite. We particularly enjoyed the comedian Sarah Silvermann's "Great Schlepp" Project before the last US Presidential, in which young Jewish Easterners were encouraged to schlepp en masse to Florida to persuade their grandparents and great-grandparents to vote for Obama.

The Skin

[oldironside]

21. Ah, schleppen.

One of my favourite German verbs. You can use it for so many things.

From the sublime...

"Attack Earth. Yes, I know it's a hell of a Schlepp."
To the ridiculous.

Yes, that is three aircraft towing one glider, and yes, it was bloody dangerous.

[non sociopath skin]

22. You want we should INVADE, already? Oy vey!

The Skin

[oldironside]

23. It's one of the enduring mysteries of Futurama...

... that a planet of Yiddish speaking lobsters not only exists, but has modelled parts of its culture on the original Star Trek TV show. And how did we get here from the poisonous Ms Bagshaw?

Incidentally, there is a grovelling article about her in the Grauniad today. You may need a vomit bag to get through it.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/aug/12/observer-profile-louise-mensch

[non sociopath skin]

24. I'll pass on that, if you don't mind.

I've never quite understood the penchant of the centre-left press for publishing glowing tributes to far-right "characters, without whom the House will be a poorer place" when these ghastly misanthropic curmudgeons have the decency to bugger off to spend more time with their money or to kick the bucket.

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

25. Ugh. I preferred John Crace's 'digested review' of her last dreadful book before becoming an MP...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/13/desire-louise-bagshawe-digested-read?INTCMP=SRCH

[oldironside]

26. It's a long time since...

... I read anything that made me laugh out loud like that. Is that a fair parody?

[LeftishBrit]

27. Pretty much so - though I only glanced through the book and didn't endanger my health by reading it

properly, so I may have missed some things. But pretty accurate, and better-written than the original!