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Original poster

Good luck to SNP MP Mhairi Black

360 replies

claig · 11/05/2015 19:21

She is phenomenal - just 20 years old, SNP MP.

"I'm not the one who should be nervous, the people who are responsible for so much poverty and so much struggle in people's lives, they're the ones who should be nervous becase they're the ones who are going to held accountable for all the damage that they do to people"

Thet are going to shake our usual spinners up. They won't know what hit them. The SNP have some great women MPs - saw some of them on TV over the weekendm a real breath of fresh air - they are going to shake things up and not put up with the bowing and doffing of caps crap.

They don't conform to the traditional profile of our useless lot. This is a bit like the movie "Mr Smith Goes to Washington". I can't remember what happens in that movie though.

OP posts:
SwedishEdith · 12/05/2015 18:19

Going to be interesting to watch. She won't ever be able to accuse anyone of being out of touch with real people and going straight from university to politics though.

I didn't think she was patronising to Douglas Alexander. I thought she sounded respectful - maybe I misinterpreted that? I liked him though - he would have been a potential Labour leader (someone's going to tell me some dirt about now aren't they?)

jellybeans · 12/05/2015 18:14

Ah right, well is that what she apologized for? She may have to 'scrub up' her language etc and social image then but I guess we all have to learn and she will probably pull her act together now she is an MP? 20 is very young but I had 2 children by then.

ImperialBlether · 12/05/2015 18:09

She tweeted it during the election, jellybeans!

jellybeans · 12/05/2015 18:00

I think she is fabulous. So what if she tweeted something rude as a teen, that is how many talk these days. No big deal. Good for her.

SouthBySouthWest · 12/05/2015 17:16

She's my new MP, and I can say that I'm a little worried, but am willing to let her prove herself.

That being said, I'm just not sure how a 20 year old student can have enough life experience to be able to carry out the role required of her. Passion alone is just not enough.

Watch this space!

Viviennemary · 12/05/2015 16:38

I must say when I heard a 20 year old student had the chance of becoming an MP my heart sank. But when I heard her speak it was a different story. She is excellent. It's anyone's guess but I think she'll do well.

ssd · 12/05/2015 16:02

I really hope she does well. sure she's said some stupid things but who the hell hasnt?

Mbo33 · 12/05/2015 15:40

Not entirely sure when daughter of a school teacher and university student became "working class." Perhaps I am out of touch with the class system in the UK?

ExitPursuedByABear · 12/05/2015 15:39

I fear for her.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 12/05/2015 15:39

I'm am extremely glad she is not my constituency MP

Thankfully, the SNP are an irrelevance at Westminster and I say that as a scot. He fact that she and her cohorts don't seem to have twigged that even if they pall up with Labour and every other opposition party, the Torys still have a majority is frankly an embarrassment to the SNP and in MB's place, to the politics department of the University of Glasgow as well.

It will all end in tears.

tabulahrasa · 12/05/2015 15:38

I wouldn't be happy having a 20 yr old as my MP...

I'm told there were 4 other strong potential candidates put forward and she worked really hard and convincingly to win the members' vote to be put forward, but I do wonder how much of it was that she has potential and at the time that would have been considered an un-winnable seat.

I suppose we'll never really know if it was supposed to be a practise run for her seeing as it turned out how it did.

Tummyrumbled · 12/05/2015 15:36

Not really phenomenal. Her battles are just beginning.

Let's judge in 2020

RJnomore · 12/05/2015 15:31

The #scum re celtic was enough for me. Never mind the glorying in excessive drinking and the threats of violence.

Oh wait. Actually. She will fit right in.

itsveryyou · 12/05/2015 15:29

I admire her courage but I think she has no idea whatsoever about what she's let herself in for. She may have passion but she has limited political experience, limited life experience, limited maturity on a public stage and she will seriously need her wits about her and absolutely iron-clad personal belief and strength to battle through the arena she's placed herself in. I wish her all the best though, I would be proud of her if she was my daughter - but also terrified for her.

Original poster
claig · 12/05/2015 15:27

Sorry Paisley and Renfrewshire, not Perth and Renfrewshire. Shows how much I know about Scotland. But the other great thing about the SNP MPs hitting Parliament in numbers is that people in England are going to learn more about Scotland.

The SNP aren't the usual laboour dummies who are the same as their London crowd - the Jim Murphys (apologies for mentioning him). Now we will see a real difference on our TVs. And if the rest of the SNP MPs are half as direct, spin-free and courageous as Mhairi Black, then people down here are going to start saying why can't we have some MPs half as good as that.

OP posts:
CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 12/05/2015 15:25

I hope someone takes her - and the other new MPs - under their wing and shows her the ropes properly: how Westminster works, how to be a good constituency MP etc

weeburrower1 · 12/05/2015 15:24

The word 'embarrassing' keeps cropping up. What's more embarrassing about her than a political system which significantly and consistently under-represents people like her?

BuggersMuddle · 12/05/2015 15:18

Frankly I think she's an embarrassment.

Original poster
claig · 12/05/2015 15:16

She is absolutely brilliant. Watch her give metropolitan Sadiq Khan, one of Labour's biggest figures and someone who wants to be Mayor of London, a schooling.

She speaks with honesty, courage and passion and says what millions of people think. She doesn't hold back and she will run rings around the metropolitan Labour leadership candidates and the Stella Creasys of Labour because she is direct, forthright, smart and courageous. She is a breath of fresh air.

She says at the end that she was told what she said was "Punch and Judy", but she says it's not "Punch and Judy", it's about people's lives. The metropolitan elite always say that when someone challenges them, it is "Punch and Judy" or that PMQs is too beastly, but it is about time that someone challenged them and said the truth.

"I teach teenagers and most of those I teach are worth a dozen of her."

Well it is a shame they aren't in Parliament too then. We need many more like her and I bet she will do the people of Perth and Renfrewshire proud as she puts some fight, integrity and passion back into politics and stands up for those people against the bland spin of the London Labour elite.

She has done Scotland proud, in my opinion, and I hope she goes on and does the UK proud too.

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 12/05/2015 15:15

I wouldn't want someone representing me who might just down tools and go off on a gap year.

ImperialBlether · 12/05/2015 15:14

She was democratically elected by her constituents. They were happy with her age and experience

It depends on how people vote though, doesn't it? Do people vote for the person or the party?

Every election there are people wondering why the PM's not on the list. Just because she got in, it doesn't mean it was a huge vote for her, rather a huge swing for the SNP.

RJnomore · 12/05/2015 15:03

And no it's not her age, I can think of many young people I come into contact with through work who are actually phenomenal.

RJnomore · 12/05/2015 15:02

Phenomenal is so far from the with I would use for her. Embarrassment might be closer.

MirandaGoshawk · 12/05/2015 15:00

Yes she has a ballsy attitude and good on her. But I wouldn't want a 20-year-old as my MP, someone who can take the needs of my local community and argue coherently for us in Parliament, and the person to whom I take my problem when the shit really hits the fan.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 12/05/2015 14:57

She was democratically elected by her constituents. They were happy with her age and experience.