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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the attacks on Natalie Bennett (leader of the Greens) have been excessive and have a whiff of sexism about them?

63 replies

lauralouise8 · 06/03/2015 19:24

I am not a Green party voter and never will be, so this is not a pro Greens rant, but I am increasingly cross that three weeks on from the 'brain fade' incident, it is still in the news cycle. I think Natalie Bennett has been unnecessarily attacked. So she had an off day: it happens to everyone. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I think had it been a male politician, the media would have moved on by now. It always seems that female politicians are fair game for personal attacks on intelligence and looks.

OP posts:
londonrach · 06/03/2015 19:28

Lol dh and i were just talking about that. You watching the news. We heard nothing re the election but apart from the green leader (the others seems strange) due to recent news stories we now returned to another party.

emotionsecho · 06/03/2015 19:34

Don't know Op, David Cameron still get's 'hug a hoodie' thrown at him, I think most politicians have stuff continually repeated and made an issue of irrespective of their gender.

emotionsecho · 06/03/2015 19:35

I have no idea where that rogue apostrophe appeared fromConfused

MarthaMonkeynuts · 06/03/2015 19:37

Nah, I think whoever that had happened to would have had the pissed ripped from them for ever quite some time

Original poster
lauralouise8 · 06/03/2015 20:15

Actually, just remembered Milliband's bacon sandwich incident, so maybe you are right....

OP posts:
Plateofcrumbs · 06/03/2015 20:36

Miliband's 'forgetting the deficit' conference speech gaffe still hadn't been forgotten from last year. And Natalie Bennett's interview was utterly cringingly awful, it is hardly surprising it keeps getting dragged up.

Great shame Caroline Lucas felt the need to stand down as leader IMO.

WetAugust · 06/03/2015 20:48

One 'brain fade' moment would be excusable and forgettable. Natalie's problem is that this was not a unique occurrence. Shecs on the Daily Politics a few weeks before that 'brain fade' episode and did had been asked exactly the sane questions that Nick Ferrari asked her. The Daily Politics interview was an utter disaster so I don't have much sympathy fir someone who weNt on the LBC to face the sand questions that she had already flunked to answer

Don't forget, she is a professional politician and party leader. She supposedly has a Masters in Mass Communications?

Shecwas not treated unfairly because she's female. If you listen to the whole interview she is asked more than one by the interviewer if she us OK and he's very sympathetic.

A party that proposes outrageous policies such as allowing people to support ISIS, banning cars, levying a Beyoncé tax and abandoning our nuclear weapons and paying everyone £72 a week should have a spokesman who can eloquently defend those crazy ideas. Natalie has proven time and again that she cannot.

glampinggaloshes · 06/03/2015 20:51

She has professional politician who is expecting people to vote for her to conceive and implement well thought through policies. Her performance and failure to know the facts was terrible. Male or female. Shocking

Mumzy · 07/03/2015 09:04

if it Nigel Farage who gave crap answers in a cocked up interview as Natalie Bennett no one would stand up to defend him so no she wasn't treated unfairly. Having to answer difficult questions and defend your policies when you are a professional politician comes with the territory regardless of gender.

BafanaThesober · 07/03/2015 09:09

Nothing to do with her being female. Just generally about her being a bit crap.
I think that the media cut her a lot of slack initially, given her newness etc, however the latest incident was beyond awful, and she should be rethinking her position. she is not doing the Green Party any favours!!

AuntieStella · 07/03/2015 09:15

Nothing to do with being female, and a great deal to do with how very bad that interview was.

It'll last throughout the election campaign, and may linger, just as 'bigotgate' did.

gamerwidow · 07/03/2015 09:19

I think it is fair in the sense that if any of the leaders had done the same they would have been hauled over the coals about it too. It is a shame that our political reporting and debate relies so much on trash talking opponents and ridiculing mistakes instead of discussing actual policy though.

pand0raslunchb0x · 08/03/2015 20:23

@wetaugust
we're all human. Failure is part of the success process, you dust yourself off and get back on the horse. live and learn.
The Sunday Politics interview was a disaster, but if you watch that then compare how Nigel's interview was delivered by the same interviewer there is a remarkable difference. Natalie was spoken at and over not spoken to. Which brings into question the interviewers motives and misogynist behaviour.

Don't forget, she is a professional politician and party leader. Yes of coursr she is but she has said on here in her webchat that she represents the members who put forward the policies. She has been a great spokesperson to date in other conference speeches.

The LBC interviewer was actually very sarcastic when asking if she was ok. I think Natalie should have postponed that interview until she felt well enough but it was her call and she did apologise in an open article in the guardian.

Green party don't support ISIS - they don't condone violence and of course uphold the law and the justice system. By telling people they are banned from joining a group only accelerates the curiosity, goes against freedom of choice and expression, promotes rebellion and indoctrination which reinforces a ridiculous notion that the 'west' are evil. However there should be a balance. More proactive education about what ISIS is and is capable of from a neutral perspective is needed, plus understanding that there are severe consequences for certain choices and actions should people decide to join certain groups. Nothing should be taken for granted.

Gamerwidow hit the nail on the head.
WHY can't politicians campaign with transparency and just focus on HONEST delivery of policy proposals. As opposed to mudslinging, bickering like children and focussing on spreading rumours via social media.

TalkinPeace · 08/03/2015 20:55

I heard her on the Today programme on Radio 4
she was crap
she had no idea what the party's policies were
the bits she could remember she could not justify
and her ideas about the economy were cloud cuckoo land

a shame really as I loathe all the other parties

pand0raslunchb0x · 08/03/2015 20:59

This is the wider problem many people are facing... What ARE the alternatives? Will you choose not to vote at all Talkinpeace?
Do you have a link to the Radio4 interview please? Would be interested to hear that.

TalkinPeace · 08/03/2015 21:04

pandoras
link to video of it here
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/green-party/11431296/Natalie-Bennett-Greens-believe-Britain-should-appease-Russias-President-Putin.html

Who will I vote for?
No idea at the moment.
With FPTP it may have to be tactical

ILovePud · 08/03/2015 21:08

She's abysmal, I think a man who interviewed as badly as she does would be mocked too. TBH the complaints that she was given a hard time irritated me a bit, as I felt there was an implication that women need to be treated with kid gloves or essentially aren't as competent as men so allowances should be made. There is sexism in politics but no one's saying Nicola Sturgeon gets an unfairly hard time in interviews because she is eloquent and authoritative.

Alisvolatpropiis · 08/03/2015 21:10

Yabu

She's just not very good at her job.

As others have said, Cameron and Miliband both have their gaffes brought up on a regular basis.

People expect party leaders/professional politicians to know what they're talking about.

She appears to not even know her own party's policies very well.

TalkinPeace · 08/03/2015 21:12

It concerns me that the Green Party consider her to be their best spokesperson.
There is no requirement for the party leader to do all the meejah - in fact it makes a party seem stronger if they have a range of people.

There must be some decent people in the party who have a clue.

Why do the Greens keep sending that person into the fray.
She cannot think fast.
She does not memorise her information.
She's just an embarrassment.
It would be the same if she was a bloke cf several of the removed UKIP spokes people

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/03/2015 21:15

YABU

The interview was shockingly bad, and a man would have been torn apart for it too. I think she's made the party as un-vote-able for as the Lim Dems made themselves.

Which means that I now haven't got a clue who to vote for.

HeeHiles · 08/03/2015 21:35

Iain dale on LBC and another male Politician were talking about NB, saying what would she be like if she was in front of someone like Putin........chortle chortle guffaw Sad it was pathetic and deeply insulting I thought.

I like NB - I like that she's not like other Politicians with a smarmy rehearsed answer that doesn't answer the question. For me she's real, has bad days and can you imagine what a circus it must be going from one interview to another!

I agree OP they pick on a sound bite and keep repeating it and not let her answer, keep interrupting - unfortunately the bullying media hacks will probably win out in the end which is a shame as the Greens would be great in power and would bring a shift in attitudes and big changes. But no doubt we'll get the same old Tory/Labour shit for another 5 years!

TalkinPeace · 08/03/2015 21:37

the Greens would be great in power and would bring a shift in attitudes and big changes

Which bit of their policies do you think are good?
And if they are so good, why can their leader not articulate them?

genuine question as I'm struggling who to vote for but know that morally I must vote

Rebecca2014 · 08/03/2015 21:40

Ed gets harassed constantly for the way he looks. I never heard one sexist comment about Natalie Bennett. She has given two bad interviews, actually sounds like three now from previous poster and that's why the press are attacking.

Viviennemary · 08/03/2015 21:41

I think they have been harsh. But I think Miliband gets a lot worse. They're still on about that bacon roll. And really if that's the best the Greens can do it's a poor show. It's put me off voting for them though I still might.

Alisvolatpropiis · 08/03/2015 21:43

Hiles

It is her job to have prepared answers. It is also her job to be able to fully articulate her party's policies. Which she cannot do. No she's not avoiding answering, often she just simply cannot do so.

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