Being one of the few female MP bloggers and having been ticked off by Single Acts of Tyranny (sorry, I just can't type that with a straight face) for talking about girlie things like haircuts and shoes, I have decided to start a regular fashion slot on this blog.
Starting with this story about throwaway fashion and Primark. This is actually something I've wanted to bring up before but there's a danger of being seen to be a bit 'let them eat cake', i.e. it's OK for me on an MP's salary to criticise people buying £3 tops from Primark, because I can afford not to do so. OK, some people wouldn't be able to afford clothes at all if they didn't shop at Primark and the supermarkets, but many people probably spend as much as I do (or as much as I did before my doing-my-bit-for-the-fiscal-stimulus at the weekend) but spend it on lots and lots of cheap items which they wear a few times and then discard when they start looking a bit shabby. It's the always-wanting-something-new-to-wear-on-Saturday-night syndrome (whereas I have the put-on-the-scruffy-grey-cashmere-jumper-and-pyjama-bottoms-Saturday-night-syndrome).
So, dangerous territory for an MP to venture onto, but I agree with Michael Jack, quoted in the Daily Mail article, that ‘The whole notion of throwaway fashions needs to be re-examined. People may want something that is fashionable, but they should also be thinking about whether what they are buying will last.’
This also leads us - in a tangential way - onto Andrew Lansley's statement that being in recession could be good for us. We can all learn to darn socks and sew buttons back on again, and knit our own yoghurt. (I'm told they already do that in Stroud).
15 comments:
Kerry,
If you can try and get to Guidos for PMQ's tomorrow
It is live blogging during Prime Mentalists Question Time
You don't need to join in, just watch. We did one with Derek Draper on Monday during Darlings drone and got nearly 2000 people.
It really is worth watching. LIVE
Glad to see you love blogging as much as we do.
By the way, I've just interviewed Vince Cable
WHAT a MONG
I'll be in the Chamber. And I'm not sure I know what a mong is. Is it a bit like a Ming?
I thought this blog was going to be about fashion and making do and mending? I was going to tell you about my 20 year old cuddly cardi and give you my chutney recipe.
Kerry, this is wonderful, nice girlie blogs with things which are trivial but essential, I love you when you don't talk about serious world and/or social issues.
You mentioned Primark! Reminded me of the time when I was sat in the hotel bar waiting for my beloved, when in walked another young lady with
exactly the same top. "Ah" I said, "you shop at Primark". By the time my own 'Primark' model joined us we had moved on to Matalan.
You don't know what a 'mong' is? mmm think that is best left off, you can always email me if you really want to know!
Perhaps if you had the slightest idea of the derivation of the phrase you would be able to control the smirk.
To save you the trouble of going to Google, please see the link
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Thomas.Jefferson.Quote.B05A
Now be sure to claim you knew that all along and then indulge in some highly dignified and relevant mocking
It sounds like a sixth form heavy metal band.
Timbone - if you're going to keep this nicey nice stuff up, you have to keep it up on all blogs, not just mine. Otherwise I might just think you're being a bit of a mong. Whatever that means.
SAOT was being ironic when he said
"indulge in some highly dignified and relevant mocking"
So Kerry said
"It sounds like a sixth form heavy metal band"
Oh dear. Allow me, good voters of Bristol to tell you what your MP thinks, from "theyworkforyou.com"
-Voted against a transparent Parliament
-Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards
-Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war
If you are happy with that, be sure and vote for her in 2009.
Kerry, a "mong" is short for mongol (ism) is the an un-PC name, for Downs Syndrome. Mong is largely derogatory. Downs children have 27 chromosones to our 26 and this leads to their physical appearance, congenital heart complaints and speech problems. Intellectually Downs people range from virtual vegetables though to virtually normal. Unlike the underclass some pass GCSEs.
My son is Downs Syndrome and is 13 years of age. I despise political correctness and OldHolborn neither offends me nor my son.
So no children from the underclass pass GCSEs? I'm afraid I have some friends who would beg to differ Dave.
NL: Of course some of the underclass pass GCSEs, although the as you can see from Graph3 on this URL if you receive free school meals (surely a sign of povety/underclass)you are 3x more likely to walk away from school with nothing. The vast majority of Downs children, including my son do have deep learning difficulties.
What I am saying is that if someone quite genuinely has learning difficulties, but can still pass GCSEs, it is a sign of how unmotivated and indolent many in the underclass are.
http://www.poverty.org.uk/26/index.shtml
There we are Kerry, DaveA explained it to you, I couldn't bring myself to do it. There is a similarity in the condition of cystic fibrosis which used to go under the term spastic, another word which was shortened as a term of insult. I am sure if you had known, you would not have suggested that I may be a bit of a mong - no offence taken.
Sorry, I meant cerebral palsy not cystic fibrosis.
I should have realised that if OH used it, it would be beyond the pale... No, certainly wouldn't have used it. I was assuming it would be something that was actually relevant to Vince Cable.
Can I also just pick up on the 'vote against a transparent parliament' point.... It was a vote on a whole bundle of proposals and it wasn't the external/ internal audit bit I had a problem with, which presumably is the bit they are referring to when they say 'transparent'. Have a look at Paul Flynn's site where he explains why he voted against it. I think the whole system needs to be significantly revised and the proposals on the table were just tinkering at the margins.
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