To wish Mhairi Black was PM?

[Littlefluffyclouds81]

www.itv.com/news/2015-07-14/mhairi-black-20-year-old-mps-maiden-speech-pulls-no-punches/

She is amazing. Her speech made me cry. She may be young but she talks such sense and has so much passion. If only the House of Commons contained more people like her.

[FannyFifer]

Mhairi doesn't have someone writing her speeches nor do any of the other SNP MPs.

If you are in government, a minister etc you would have staff or civil servants who would write a speech for you. Otherwise you do it yourself.

[member]

It was a great maiden speech performance & given her youth, I think she potentially has a bright future.

My MP gave her maiden speech 2 days ago which was anodyne in comparison goo.gl/SpOgHP

[Bubblesinthesummer]

It was a good maiden speech but shouldn't people reserve judgement until Mhairi has 'done something'

Many MPs in the past have been very good oritors, but there is no way on earth you'd want them as PM...

[wigglylines]

"Many people work and still manage to turn up to meetings and appointments on time."

Yes but if you are 5 minutes late to your meeting because of something totally out of your control, you don't lose your pay for weeks on end, leaving you unable to pay hills, feed yourself adequately and get put at risk of becoming homeless do you?

Sanctions as a "punishment" are totally disproportionate. No one with a microgram of compassion or common sense could support them if you understood how they work.

[ArcheryAnnie]

If she's putting her all into doing a difficult job at a very young age, good for her.

But she's not the Second Coming, and it's unfair on her to treat her as though she might be. She's in her first real job, very much in the public eye, and an MP's job is hard enough without piling on even more pressure.

Back off and let her be, and if we are all lucky then - in time - she might get a chance to fulfil her potential.

[PageNotFound404]

Also, unlike older MPs she won't have had grants for her higher education.

As a Scottish resident attending university in Scotland, she would be non-fee-paying.

I hope she fulfils her potential but I'm not planning to get carried away just yet. The things she said in her maiden speech needed saying, but even more than fine words, something needs doing.

[PavlovaPalaver]

I thought it was a wonderful speech - heartfelt and full of a truth that rarely gets told in Westminster.

I wouldn't want her as PM, but I'm assuming that you are not being serious anyway.

[Pipbin]

As a Scottish resident attending university in Scotland, she would be non-fee-paying.

A very good point. As someone living in England I forget that Scotland values higher education and doesn't believe people should get into massive debit if they aren't rich.

[machair]

If she really cared about housing, she would be getting the Scottish Government to shake up our beaurocratic, slow planning system.

[TheChandler]

Pipbin A very good point. As someone living in England I forget that Scotland values higher education and doesn't believe people should get into massive debit if they aren't rich.

Well, unless you're English or Welsh of course, and want to study in Scotland.

Its actually a terrible policy, because not only is it racist (I'd like to see the Scottish Government try to enforce the payment of fees by English students in court, because from what I've heard, they don't bother chasing up non-payers because they know they can't), but it encourages Scottish students to be parochial. For instance, many good Scottish schools have traditionally sent their top students to Oxbridge. The fees policy discourages this and encourages inward thinking.

And all this while the English and Welsh taxpayers are funding the fees of Scottish students in Scotland.

[Notasinglefuckwasgiven]

She has been active in her constituency for years. She's a great example to those of us who live here and are raising daughters.

[Notasinglefuckwasgiven]

reading this out to an older colleague. He wants to know where the " this is racist and unfair " brigade were when the Poll tax was given to Scotland only....from auld Tam.

[unlucky83]

Just watched it all...
Absolutely typical SNP. Talk the good talk - pity about the walk. They have fantastic PR. Of course that wasn't written by her! She is obviously stage managed to a a fraction of a mm.
She needs more/better acting lessons if she wants to pull it off long term.
There was no real passion there - none. (To be kind I guess you could argue she was just over rehearsed...) What we need to see is her do an improvised speech....something Tony Benn or Margaret Thatcher - or other conviction politicians could have pulled off - but I doubt she would be 'allowed to' by Nicola and her cronies.
Agree with all the others who say the SNP have done nothing for Scotland but fuck up. Police Scotland, Curriculum for Excellence, Council tax freezes...the list is endless.
They do the odd high profile, headline grabbing thing they can claim themselves to make it seem like they are helping people and doing a good job. Free prescriptions (repeatedly missing cancer treatment targets) Cheap/free Dental treatment (children's braces are paid for). No tuition fees (less funding for vocational college places).
In reality they couldn't run a piss up in a brewery (I refer back to Police Scotland and Curriculum for Excellence ...and the 600hrs pre school funding to name just a couple).
And they have (can have) no interest in making poor people's lives easier because if people are content they will not vote for change - for independence.
I truly despise the SNP. And actually feel sorry for this young puppet.

[Notasinglefuckwasgiven]

Once a thread descends into passive aggressive rants, I bow out.

[unlucky83]

Not if that was aimed at me - I can't see what was passive -or even really aggressive about that?
That was written with passion....nothing there avoiding direct confrontation. I truly hate the SNP. (And I live in Scotland)
Poll tax...hmmmm - introduced in 1989 - you do know it was introduced in England and Wales too don't you? Just a year later in 1990. The only reason Scotland got it first was a way of managing the administration.
And even now in principle I can't see what was so unfair about it -every working adult pays the same for local services. With a 20% rate for the non-working - students, the unemployed. The problem was actually collecting it from people who rented etc -which is why they used the electoral roll. It was never meant to be a tax on the right to vote. Politically it was designed to highlight chronic overspending by some extreme Labour Councils -so a Tory run council will cost you £100 a month, your current Labour council is costing you £200. Do you get better services for that extra £100 a month - and at the time a lot of people didn't. (You could argue the current council tax system can be equally unfair)

And I do feel a bit sorry for her - she is very young and I do feel she is being used to an extent...

[limitedperiodonly]

It may have been mentioned before and I'm sorry for not reading the thread and being trivial but how do you pronounce Mhairi?

It's not Mary, is it? Or is it?

[run2]

Like the word 'marry'.

[DinoSnores]

Mhairi would properly be pronounced 'Vah-ree' (Mh in Gaelic makes a Vee sound), but Mhairi Black pronounces her name 'Mah-ree'.

In Gaelic, you have the vocative case, so a name can change depending on whether you are speaking TO someone (Hello, Mhairi) or ABOUT someone (There's Mairi over there.)

Other names like it are Seumas (Shay-mus), the Gaelic for James. You'd talk ABOUT Seumas but say hello to Sheumais (pronounced something closer to Hamish).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocative_case#Scottish_Gaelic

[DinoSnores]

run2, I wouldn't say that was "Marry", because the stress is on the first syllable, so it is closer to "MAH-ree".

But, yes, limited, it is the Gaelic for Mary.

[limitedperiodonly]

Thanks.

[run2]

DinoSnores - Fair enough. Yours was a much more detailed answer!

I find this thread really depressing. Here is a young woman who is actually trying to do something in the world. You may not agree with what she is trying to do, how it is being done or how fast she is doing it, but I think she deserves a little more than some of the ill considered and nasty comments that are coming out here.

[Chchchchangeabout]

YABNaive

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

I thought it was great too.

Going back to the City of Edinburgh Council point, they are about to have a new chief exec and are in the middle of a transformation programme which is going to result in more than 900 jobs being deleted, mainly at the higher/middle management levels. The Scottish Government will have been involved in commissioning this review. It is well recognised that the place needs shaking up, and it's about to get it. So it's not accurate to say that nothing is being done jury's still out on whether it will be right 900 jobs though

[HamishBamish]

Anyone can make an impassioned speech. I will reserve my judgement until I actually see her do something rather than just talk. In fact, let's apply that to the SNP in it's entirety.

The sooner they show their true colours the better and we can get rid of them.

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

It was a great speech, but it was just a speech. I would be extremely unimpressed if someone with a first in politics from Glasgow uni couldn't make a decent speech!

I was a bit when she won her seat and more than a little scathing about her lack of life experience, tbh. But the budget changed my pov. If we are going to pass such appallingly ageist pieces of legislation, then we 100% need young people in parliament to stand up for the rights of young people.

Of course, you don't have to be young to do that, but it's definitely needed.