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as title really and following on from the pay rise thread, does anyone actually have any firsthand experience of an MP doing anything that has been worth doing, either locally or nationally, that directly makes something better for us, the public, or am i not understanding how politics works? do they just vote on stuff? cos anyone could do that...
That Lembit Opik chap did the Cheeky Girls didn't he?
I had a broken back fixed on the National Health, if that counts.
Bevin, wasn't it?
My MP was pushing for a law to ban mass cycle events - so depends on your point of view I guess!
I assume that the NHS, banning Slavery, giving Women the Vote, the Human Rights Act, Gay Marriage, Freedom of Information Act, Equalities Act all just appeared out of thin air?
Probably, but doing something good these days is barely news-worthy so you'll never hear about it anyway
All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the government ever done for us?
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This bloke did a bit
Grayling did a decent job of making prisons a more dangerous environment for staff & prisoners.
😆Northwind - Member
All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the government ever done for us?
The freedom to question whether they've done anything of use..
Generally when you see MPs speaking you can just see the oxygen being wasted....
Shame really as that oxygen is useful..
My chap left the Navy, where he was a Doctor, to become a Tory MP. He was recalled to serve in Iraq, as a Doc. As an MP he could have got out of it, but didn't. He reported back on his experiences.
As a decent bloke who's previously had a real career in the real world, I guess he won't be climbing far up the political pyramid.
I assume that the NHS, banning Slavery, giving Women the Vote, the Human Rights Act, Gay Marriage, Freedom of Information Act, Equalities Act all just appeared out of thin air?
do they just vote on stuff? cos anyone could do that...
like i said, i dont just mean collectively, voting on things, because a great many of them voted [i]against[/i] gay marrige, FOI act, giving women the vote, etc. i mean on a more individual level. i'm trying to understand wether or not, if a completely random section of society were to make these kinds of decisions, would things be any different?
i mean on a more individual level
As in pulling babies from burning houses type stuff?
No idea and don't really care, that's not what they're elected for.
You have to take into account that MPs are involved in drawing up the legislation that they vote on... i.e. they don't just vote on the laws, they create them.
On the subject of good things MPs have done/are doing:
John Mann has been doing good things,
by attempting to get the Official Secrets Act changed to allow whistleblowers from the intelligence services to disclose their knowledge of the use of Child Abuse as a blackmail tool for various shady purposes, sometimes including Arms Deals.
On the flipside, we have the MP Dr Julian Lewis, who was [url= https://pbepr.wordpress.com/scallywags-simon-regan/ ]pivotal in preventing investigation into Dolphin Square abuse in the 1990s[/url]:
In the early nineties, in the now defunct Scallywag magazine, which I founded, we interviewed in some depth twelve former inmates at Bryn Estyn who had all been involved in the Wrexham paedophile ring, which the tribunal acknowledges existed. Most of these interviews were extremely harrowing and disturbing, but were gently and sensitively conducted over pub lunches where the victim could relax. We subsequently persuaded ten of them to make sworn affidavits which we proposed to use as back up to half a dozen paedophile stories we later published.Two of these young men, who had been 14-years-old at the time, swore they had been not only introduced to the paedophile ring operating in the Crest Hotel in Wrexham but had later been escorted on three or four occasions to an address in Pimlico where they were further abused.
We took them separately to Pimlico and asked them to point out the building where this had taken place. They were both positive in their identification. It turned out to be the private flat of a well known, and since highly discredited lobbyist who later went into obscurity in some disgrace because of his involvement with Mohammed al-Fayed and the ‘cash for questions’ scandal. At the time we ran a story entitled ‘Boys for Questions’ and named several prominent members of the then Thatcher government. These allegations went to the very top of the Tory party, yet there was a curious and almost ominous lack of writs.
The lobbyist was a notorious ‘queen’ who specialised in gay parties with a ‘political mix’ in the Pimlico area – most convenient to the Commons – and which included selected flats in Dolphin Square. The two young men were able to give us very graphic descriptions of just what went on, including acts of buggery, and alleged that they were only two of many from children’s homes other than North Wales.
There was, to my certain knowledge, at least one resignation from the Conservative office in Smith Square once we had published our evidence and named names.
Subsequently, over a rent dispute which is still a matter of litigation, Dr. Julian Lewis, now Conservative MP for New Forest (East) but then deputy head of research at Conservative Central Office in Smith Square, managed to purchase the contents of our offices, which included all our files. It had been alleged that we owed rent, which we disputed, but under a court order the landlords were able to change the locks and seize our assets which included all our files, including those we had made on paedophiles. It was apparently quite legal, but it was most certainly a dirty trick.
All of a sudden very private information, some of it even privileged between ourselves and our lawyer during the John Major libel action, was being published in selected, pro-Conservative sections of the media.
Subsequently, during a court case initiated by Lewis, I was able in my defence to seek discovery of documents and asked to see the seized files. The paedophile papers were missing. This is a very great shame, because Sir Ronald Waterhouse certainly should have been aware of them.
Dr Julian Lewis has recently been made head of the Commons Defence Committee
He is also a member of a very shady 'think tank' known as [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Cercle ]Le Cercle[/url]
I think all that my MP has done is a fantastic impression of Tim Nice But Dim. So good in fact he was re-elected. 🙄
Wedgwood Benn; Renounced his hereditary peerage, leading campaigner against the Iraq war
My MP voted against gay marriage and tried to get a private members bill to bring back hanging.
So he's managed to start a little 1950's theme park for us all to enjoy
our MP introduced the bill to end Brewery fixed rent deals and allow pubs to buy from outside the brewery control which is good
He also helped me organise our cross events by speaking to the council in support.
so not bad
No MP has ever done anything good, of course, it's that simple OP! 🙄
18 posts in and only 3 positives*... its not looking good is it?
* and one of them was churchill, what was it he did again?
edit 4 out of 19
Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour Party impressed me with his shell-shocked comment about the blood on his white shirt 'not being his own' when he got stuck in to help rescue folk from The Clutha Pub in Glasgow when the helicopter crashed in 2013.
Northwind - Member
All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the [s]government[/s] Romans ever done for us?
FTFY
Mine shagged John Prescott. Don't know if that's better or worse than being John Prescott.
If I was going to pick an MP out for being interesting it would be Rory Stewart, he's been about a bit and seen a few things.
Robin Cook voted against the Iraq war. Ultimately futile against a misled house that wanted blood, but at least he showed principals in that.
I'm very far from sharing the political views of my MP (Gerald Howarth) and wouldn't dream of voting for him, but kudos to him for joining Trail Action Group on an MTB ride around the contentious MOD areas in his constituency.
Son of Benn (Hereditary Labour MP) v Coastal Footpath...
Got my pal a successful third round of NHS infertility treatment after the 1st two failed. In her area you only get two by default. Conservative MP.
mikewsmith - MemberThis bloke did a bit
Ah, Churchill.
Another elitist bloody-handed warmonger.
Quite a few resigned but then another scrounger got elected
seems like there's not much love around for our dear leaders,so, whats the alternative? time for a bit of research...
Got my pal a successful third round of NHS infertility treatment after the 1st two failed. In her area you only get two by default. Conservative MP.
I wouldn't say that getting special treatment for an individual instead of getting the policy changed is a good thing for an MP to do.
Our tory MP (Andrew Jones, Harrogate) does a lot of good for the community, he's even gone as far as trying out school dinners!
He hasn't yet spent a day with any doctors or nurses in Harrogete District Hospital (AFAIK) or had some quality time down the Seg at our place while someones on a dirty protest.
I doubt he ever will either.
The majority of them spend the majority of their time doing "good stuff". It's what they are paid to do on our behalf.
We are just always looking for an excuse to have a go because the minority are dickheads at times. Same way we like to have a go at all drivers. It's the STW ageing hipster way, maaaan!
That Lembit Opik chap did the Cheeky Girls didn't he?
Having had the dubious honour of being within a few feet of both 'cheeky' girls, on no scale do they fall anywhere near the good end. Stinky, scrawny untalented females.
I was impressed by Ken Livingston when he partly cleared the streets of London of traffic by slashing the tube fares. I really appreciated that on my cycle to work.
my mates a tory boy mp but a proper working class lad, served in the forces in the ranks.. genuinely a decent chap glad that we have folks like him to stand up for us.
Dan Jarvis did.
Prior to becoming an MP.
as did Paddy Ashdown,
Witnessed quite a few MPs do good things to be honest.
I suspect most MPs are decent enough people.
The trouble is when they take the whip, then they act in ways that don't necessarily benefit their constituents.
I'm very far from sharing the political views of my MP (Gerald Howarth) and wouldn't dream of voting for him, but kudos to him for joining Trail Action Group on an MTB ride around the contentious MOD areas in his constituency.
My local MP (different one, Anne Milton) has been very helpful on the same topic in lobbying the defence ministers on the same subject. Helps that she has (had?) a health service background and a health job at the time, and also is a cyclist herself.
Go Anne!!
BTW a lot of folk don't know Churchill was an early mountainbiker, or at least an offroad rider.
When he was in charge of the Colonial Office he did a tour of British East Africa which included cycling through Uganda. If you have been there, then it's not hard to realise that its roads of 100 years ago were basically singletrack - which he did on a rod brake roadster. It is a big country.
He also did a lot of cycling in the veldt during the Boer War. He rode into Pretoria before it was taken and did a bit of spying. If caught he could have been shot out of hand.
Also while I regard him as a warmonger, at least he had been literally at the pointy end of war, shooting and killing enemy at very close range who were determinedly trying to kill him with swords, spears, and guns. It's worth reading his account of his charge at the Battle of Omduran into the middle of the zariba.
Pretty cool headed and brave.
I taught Rushnara Ali MP for Bethnal Green for GCSE and 2 of her A levels about 25 years ago. She recently sent me a charming message of thanks, good enough to use in a cv but I have no intention of selling my labour power again.
In a fit of boredom I found myself watching the UK parliament channel at 10.30 the other night.
There were five guys in the house discussing the problems of "stone theft" in rural areas and wondering if the government should be introducing stricter laws along the lines of what they did with scrap metal merchants a few years ago. There were no arguments or raised voices, just five guys having a discussion.
All very dull and unexciting, but probably an important thing to look into, especially if you are a farmer who has just had his dry stone wall pinched.
mikewsmith - MemberThis bloke did a bit
He was also an advocate of concentration camps and dead against womens votes was he not.
Leader to victory perhaps but a decent human being... doubtful.
I used to live in Brackley, and had an idea to mark out some running routes and km/mile markers on the pavement. It was, i'll admit slightly self interestedly, as I was doing it for the running club, but any-one could have used it. After interacting with the parish council unsuccessfully (they just ignored me), I wrote to Andrea Leadsom (con) to see if she could help. She actually rustled up a meeting with Northants CC and the highways, and came along, and when it became apparent that the idea contravened any number of road traffic acts 🙄 , called the council/highways "lackeys of the state, getting in the way of citizen initiatives" 😆
I think as she as new to the job she was trying to make an impression. Subsequently she's reverted to type (ex banker) oh well...
The local MP to our company though a little bit of a lightweight has been helpful and responsive to a couple of issues. He was one of those MP's in the house discussing stone theft. It's not farmers walls that are the main issue it's stone slab roofs, pavements that are years old and parts of buildings. It just shows that many MP's do a reasonable job on local issues. Pity then that they are forced in the party line on national issues or vote with conscience on some issues, for me the remit of the MP is to best represent the constituency as best as possible whatever the party or their own view tells them.
I'd also have them pick out a particular subject to work on with other MP's, it should be a cross party issue.
I'm a fan of "first past the post" voting but or MP's need to be less partisan to there national party and total advocates for there constituents.
Ed Milliband. Made Labour completely unelectable.
Not around here:
Richard Drax MP objects to building of offshore windfarm despite very real creation of 100s of local jobs and benefit to local economy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27980098
In same day presses on with building of solar farm on HIS OWN ESTATE / LAND despite objections from the estate's local residents.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-33133117