Good luck to SNP MP Mhairi Black

[claig]

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.

Conduct unbecoming to a 15 year old?

It's a five year old tweet.

If that's the case , I apologise. On the link it is dated 11th May 2015 and is titled Mhairi Black MP - hence why I thought it was last week.

I think that's when the article was published...i100.independent.co.uk/article/we-enjoyed-reading-mhairi-blacks-nsfw-tweets-as-a-teenager--xyvV8th3lb there's one with dates, they're all from when she was 14 or 15.

I know she's still young, but there's a huge difference between that age and a 20 year old that's been to uni since.

I think this is something that is going to happen more and more, with the growth of social media. We all know that teenagers aren't as sensible as they might be, and don't always think of the long-term consequences of what they say and do - it has always been thus - but now, their foolishness is often preserved for all time, on the web.

I suspect there will be more cases of 'Stupid things said as a teenager coming back to bite the person on the butt' in years to come. Maybe, eventually, people will become more circumspect about what they choose to have out there, for all time, on the web, or maybe we will get better at seeing when someone was being a thoughtless idiot then, but has matured and learned their lesson since.

I'm not so bothered about old tweets - we've all done daft stuff on social media - but to be fair, if "wkd" means the vodka-based alcopop (which it appears to from context) then it WAS conduct unbecoming from a 14 or 15 year old.

(And - also to be fair - many of us have done things we really oughtn't have at 14 and 15. My DS is a whisper away from this age, so I have it all to come....)

"...And - also to be fair - many of us have done things we really oughtn't have at 14 and 15..." - spot on, Annie - I am very glad that the foolish things I did when I was young, exist now only in the memories of my contemporaries, rather than being preserved forever on social media!

At that age my drink of choice was either straight vodka (because we couldn't afford juice as well) or diamond white cider

I'm now a fairly sensible middle aged woman who is very thankful there is no social media evidence of the awful teenager she was, lol.

Watching TV at a friend's house drinking a few alcopops is as far as undesirable teenage behaviour goes pretty tame tbh.

Yes, a great lassie. youngest ever

I'm sure once she gets paid she'll be able to pop to Hobbs for a few suits ... oh, wait, what does it matter?

The generation of 20-somethings have been totally fucked over by the government. Well done for Mhairi for standing up to be counted.

and for being able to get through the boringness of first year politics at Glasgow without dropping it for something else like I did

Can someone remind me why all the SNP MPs went to Westminster? Why did NC go? She isn't even an MP... Sounds like a bit of a jolly and a bit of bravado.

To go to work, perhaps? I'm guessing Nicola goes to London occasionally, and she is their boss ...

I notice ageism a lot on here - but mostly aimed at people my age (late 60s) or older. It's every bit as bad when it's aimed at the young.

As for decrying Mhairi Black's hairstyle, "cheap" clothes or general demeanour...I'm saddened, that's all. What does any of that matter? If she wore a smarter suit or had her hair styled differently, we'd feel reassured that she knew how to represent her constituents? Would a nice west end accent help?

We've had abundant evidence over the years to demonstrate that smart suits/haircuts/attitudes convey little but the ability to con people. What suckers we are.

As I do with all politicians, I'll give her a chance. I'll hope the lifestyle and salary don't corrupt them, I'll be watching like a hawk to see that they keep their promises, and I'll overlook the odd misjudged remark - because we're all human.

She isn't actually the youngest MP ever - Charles James Fox became an MP aged 19 in 1768, and Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn became an MP aged 18 in 1806. Which doesn't take away from it being an achievement.

I thinks it's indicative of the poor understanding of the needs and circumstances of working class people that people on here are so delusional that they are describing children of teachers as having a working class background.

^^ I know this is bizarre. I am the daughter of teachers and worked when I was at university for extra cash and reading this thread has implied I should be considered a card carrying member of the working class. I think I would get a slap if I suggested this to anyone in RL.

However, people upthread have criticised the fact that people seem to be assuming that being Scottish is in itself all that is needed to classify as working class. Is this really a bigoted southern view or is it in fact something many Scots propagate themselves? I have found myself being lectured on the agonies of being working class by many sons and daughters of doctors and surgeons by virtue of the fact they are from north of the Watford Gap. And it is tedious.

Anyway, I quite like Mhairi, its high time young people were represented in politics and I hope she proves to be a thorn in the side of the establishment.

If you compare Mhairi to Boris Johnson they've actually got a lot in common. Terrible suits, terrible hair and ferociously bright.

I'm not sure about Mhairi being 'ferociously bright'. I haven't heard much from her except populist sound bites so far; hopefully there's better to come.

Is this really a bigoted southern view or is it in fact something many Scots propagate themselves?

It's not confined to Scotland - a reasonably posh friend from Yorkshire is tired and embarrassed at being taken for the Authentic Voice Of The Working Class by anyone (north or south) not from Yorkshire, just because of her accent.

And - surprise! - it's possible to be working-class and from Surrey, and even from Kensington (there's a LOT of working-class people in Kensington).

The British taxpayer will be paying sixty thousand pounds plus per annum for this foul mouthed girl... It is shameful.

She was democratically elected.

Yes she was... And it's shameful. This salary is what we pay because we expect life skills, experience and competence. This girl who publicly expressed a desire to 'nut' her opponents is clearly immature and aggressive. That said, there is absolutely no point in stating the obvious to a bunch of cyber-nats who spread their propaganda on forums such as this. Orwellian politics is here and it's insidious... So I'll leave you to it!

She's not a girl, she's an adult woman. MPs are supposed to represent every adult in the UK, are foul-mouthed young women not deserving of representation?

And the salary isn't £60k.

It's £67k, soon to rise to £72k.

Perhaps we should have a scale of pay for MPs, so foul-mouthed people would be paid less than those who never swear (that would have disadvantaged Jim Murphy quite a lot), older people would be paid more than younger ones, men more than women...

When did she say that, though, Rose? It is my understanding that it was a number of years ago, when she was a teenager. A lot of teenagers say stupid things - in my day, the stupid things teenagers said were generally not recorded for posterity, now they are here, on social media, for all time.

Maybe she has grown up and matured, since she said those things - maybe we should give her a chance to prove that she has moved on. Of course, it could just be political expediency that has made her apologise for these things and try to distance herself from them.

Either way, time will tell. If she has matured and grown up, we will see it in what she says and does. If she hasn't, then she will trip herself up, sooner or later.

But as the mother of three young people, who,have lived their teenage years in the time of the explosion in social media, I hope that we can learn to let children make mistakes when they are immature, without them having to destroy the child's future - I honestly believe that the majority of teenage foolishness is not so bad that it should destroy their lives.

She hasn't really apologised though.

The Guardian quotes her
“Yes, making the front page was a surprise,” she said ruefully. “My brother came through and said: ‘Have you seen this?’ But then he said: ‘You got a bit heated during a football match. Tony Blair started a war. Let’s put it in perspective.’

Yes, we all do daft things when we are young, but deleting all the tweets and then making a ridiculous comparison with a war doesn't seem mature or grown up. Then she goes on about children below the poverty line.

“So it was a shock to the system, but you have to think about what your political opponents are doing, trawling through to find old messages written by a teenager and holding them relevant in a country where 100,000 children are living below the poverty line. Maybe their priorities are a bit skewed.”

Well, yes, but that wasn't what you were asked- what about your priorities? Can you not just say it was embarrassing and you won't do it again?

Now it was better when she said
“Of course, I regret that turn of phrase,” she says now. “That day, after two years of work, of course it was emotional. And no, I wasn’t about to headbutt anyone.”

about giving somebody the nut in the referendum, but it's still not great. I was angry because I lost so I threatened violence. She is daft if she thinks she is going to win every single point in Westminster and she needs to have better ways of coping if she is going to be a good MP. A professional just shouldn't act like that.

(of course, someone will now come along and say it is good she has emotions because she is Real Life One of Us)

I too am a mother and I believe all young people have the right to a future regardless of their mistakes - but that certainly doesn't mean we pay huge salaries to students who do not know how to conduct themselves in public...but as I said, I suspect I'm talking to professional cyber-nats here, not your average mum on the street so I'll leave you to it... You've clearly got propaganda to pedal and far be it from me to spoil your self-congratulatory thread.

She's not being paid a huge salary as a student, she'll be paid it as a democratically elected MP. Just like all the other democratically elected MPs. And just think, there's expenses on top!

The wheels fell off my propaganda, so now I can only peddle it.

RamblingRose - I voted 'No' at the referendum, and Labour at the election, so I am most definitely NOT a cybernat! I was simply trying to be fair and even handed - I was not aware that was such a bad thing!