Louise Mensch and John Lydon on Any Questions

[David Johnson]

"Of course, the Starbucks/Capitalism remark on HIGNFY was embarrassingly dim"

As was the comment last night "I was a member of the parliamentary committee that deposed the Murdochs".

As to her publicity seeking, you must watch different tele programmes to me because she has been a more or less constant feature of a range of political programmes such as Newsnight, Daily Politics etc even more so when the Culture Committee was on the case re. phone hacking. In addition we have had her "celebrity" photo shoot in the Observer and other mags. Very glamorous! I can't recall Anne Widdicombe and Alan Johnson doing those. Then we have her "announcements" about her drug taking! SHock, horror! Then we have her twittering and her taking to court someone who made abusive remarks and then hey presto, just to follow on from that bit of news we have La Louise setting up an internet startup on the subject of ......."tweeting".

Publicity mad airhead.

[Rotter]

He didn't want legalisation did he? He said if it was legalised you'd have Trafalgar Square filled with hypodermics. What he said was that there should be education about drugs and their effects, then people should be free to make up their own minds.

[Essex Lad]

David Johnson wrote:

> Oooooo, cruel, biting, hurtful satire. My weekend is now
> officially ruined!
>
> !wink!


My Friday efforts haven't been wasted then but seriously you would jump on someone if they made such a basic error.

[David Johnson]

"My Friday efforts haven't been wasted "

Sigh!

[Sam Slater]

Re the Murdochs: You shouldn't be in the politics game if you're averse to exaggerating your own part in the good things and trying to distance yourself from the bad things.

[quote]As to her publicity seeking, you must watch different tele programmes to me because she has been a more or less constant feature of a range of political programmes such as Newsnight, Daily Politics etc even more so when the Culture Committee was on the case re. phone hacking. In addition we have had her "celebrity" photo shoot in the Observer and other mags. Very glamorous! I can't recall Anne Widdicombe and Alan Johnson doing those.[/quote]

Oh, come on! If publicity's what you're seeking then political snooze programmes and an Observer shoot isn't going to get anyone noticing (unless you're interested in politics.......and left-leaning). Ken Livingstone, Charles Kennedy, Boris Johnson, Lembit Opik, Bob Marshall-Andrews and Alan Duncan have all made many appearances on more populist, political shows like HIGNFY. Sally Berkow and George Galloway checked themselves into Big Brother, for christ's sake! I'm pretty sure some MPs will have popped up between Ant and Dec in 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' at some point. I bet more people saw Anne Widdecombe on 'Come Dancing' than say Mensch's glamour shoot in the Observer. Hardly 'Nuts' is it? !laugh!

Anyway, enough of defending Mensch. I just think that her looks might have something to do with how people judge her. You don't get many half-decent looking politicians in life so when one pops up twice on your TV within a week you notice.

[Sam Slater]

[quote]He didn't want legalisation did he? He said if it was legalised you'd have Trafalgar Square filled with hypodermics. What he said was that there should be education about drugs and their effects, then people should be free to make up their own minds.[/quote]

He did but then contradicted himself later on. Go listen back on iPlayer. He went off on so many tangents I'm not comfortable in quoting him accurately. At the end of the day, him nearly dying from drugs only ads to his punk-like appeal. A 17 year old on a council estate could lose his job, home and future prospects all together. He was so keen on telling us all how 'council estate' his roots were, he just forgot -or never thought about- the reality of some who don't have a mega-career, big bank balance and the love of millions to help them through it all.

He wasn't boring, which is refreshing, but he didn't half talk out of his arse at times and I won't patronise him by patting him on the head and tell him how well he's done.

[David Johnson]

Nowhere in my posts do I suggest that being publicity mad is an MP class of 1.

She is publicity mad in my opinion as are a number of MPs some of which you mention e.g. Lembit Opik, Boris Johnson and Galloway.

[Laura Hermansen Fan]

Question Time was an interesting programme for many years until it was ruined by David "I only do what I do because of my dad's connections" Dimbleby ruined it. Always trying to make the audience laugh by saying smug condesending things to the guests, and constantly throwing tabloid-like questions at them. I read a couple of years ago that they were going to get a new presenter, I thought I would start watching it again, but for some reason Dimbo is still there.

Anyway, the Mensch issue. I read in the Evening Standard today that she was a hard drug user when she was in her 20's, she has apparently confessed all in recent times, and she is warning youngsters to not do what she did. It has left her 'messed up' and with Anxiety Disorder. She claims to be happy to talk about all this because it might discourage kids from going down the path she went down.

I think the real reason she talks about it now is because once the press got hold of it she felt if she opened up then she is in control of what the public know about her involvement in class-a drugs, and it is not the press setting the agenda. I read that she was in the music business in the 1980's and that was when she was heavily involved in taking hard drugs. She is currently married to the manager of the world's biggest heavy rock band, Metallica.

[David Johnson]

In terms of comparing Louise Mensch with the likes of Alan Johnson and Anne Widdicombe in terms of publicity seeking, I forgot to mention we are hardly comparing like with like in longevity terms.

Johnson has been an MP for 15 years; Widdicombe was an MP for nigh on 20 years; Louise Mensch has been an MP for 2 years. Only 2 years in the potential spotlight, so plenty of time left for Mensch to add to HIGNFY, Daily Politics, Newsnight, 6 o'clock news, glamour shoots, my drug hell stories etc etc. by doing Celebrity Big Brother Dancing on Ice in the Jungle shows!

Had a look at her 2010 election result. She defeated the Labour incumbent and has a majority of about 1900 so I suspect that she realises that the way things are going she is just keeping the seat warm for another 3 years before she gets chucked out.

My guess is that we will see her increasingly positioning herself for a career as a TV presenter in years to come. She has all the attributes - very attractive, articulate, feisty, very publicity seeking, can do "extraordinarily dim" very well and very, very ambitious.

You heard it hear first.

And I think I would shoot photos of Alan Johnson in a dinner jacket holding a martini, shaken not stirred of course, with a leggy blonde wrapped round him. A bit of photoshopping and bob's your uncle. Ok with Anne Widdicombe it could be a tad harder. I would go with the 1930's long ballroom dress, draped on a chaise longue holding a cigarette holder ala an Agatha Christie dowager duchess character from one of her novels.

[Sam Slater]

I just don't think you'd have the same impression of her if she had the build of a Russian shot-putter and a face like the back-end of a Blackpool donkey !happy!