Tag Archives: kerry mccarthy

Unbriefed Michael Gove forgets education adviser at the dispatch box

11:55am Tue May 24th
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An mix-up in the Commons yesterday afternoon left MPs wondering whether Michael Gove had prepared properly for education questions. In response to a simple query on primary school provision, Gove embarked on a partisan attack on a Labour MP for not supporting a free school in Westbury-on-Trym that was demanded by “her constituents in Bristol North West”.

Having been selected to ask a topical question, however, Kerry McCarthy’s name was on yesterday’s order paper, which clearly stated that her constituency was Bristol East. Gove messed up despite having received a full briefing from his civil servants on possible questions for those MPs selected by ballot.

If this wasn’t embarrassing enough, the real MP for Bristol North West is Charlotte Leslie – who was formerly a shadow education adviser.

Does Gove have a proper grip on his brief?

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Cameron cringes over Smiths at PMQs

6:05pm Wed December 8th
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One for the “PMQs as theatre” category from Kerry McCarthy today, who asked David Cameron which Smiths song students should listen to in the wake of the impending tuition fees vote.

Morrissey – who once railed against Thatcher with the song Margaret on the Guillotine – this week joined former Smiths band mate Johnny Marr to forbid Cameron from liking his favourite group.

While coalition partners burn their idols, it seems Cameron’s idols would rather burn him.

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Quote of the day: what Kerry (nearly) wrote

2:42pm Thu June 3rd
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CORRECTION: Apologies to Kerry, who has been in touch to emphasise that this is what she nearly published. To quote her post:

Footnote: My efforts to persuade people to take this seriously almost came a cropper then, in that I missed the ‘f’ out of global shift. This is what’s known on Twitter as doing a Pickles, Eric Pickles having once gaily informed the world that all of his shits came from M+S.

Scrapbook’s admiration of Kerry McCarthy’s new blog design quickly took a back seat to laughing very hard indeed. Was the member for Bristol East advocating some form of Maze-style* dirty protest?

“UN says that a global shit shift towards a vegan diet is vital” – Kerry McCarthy

[insert juvenile toilet humour here]

*Or, for the vegans, maize-style?

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Greer's Law: Kerry McCarthy responsible for Irish troubles?!

3:27pm Mon November 9th
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Like Ed Vaizey’s fandom of The Beat – whose natty plea for Margaret Thatcher to “Stand Down” filled dancefloors in 1980 – it’s good to see that Shane Greer doesn’t let his Tory Boy-ness obstruct enjoyment of lefty Irish nationalists punkers Stiff Little Fingers.

According to Wikipedia (so it must be true)…

Godwin’s Law … is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches.” The term Godwin’s law can also refer to the tradition that whoever makes such a comparison is said to “lose” the debate.

Perhaps we can now extend this to Greer’s Law, which dictates that anyone who doesn’t realise he’s from Northern Ireland is responsible for decades of sectarian violence. No, really. Kerry McCarthy’s tweets on the irony of a unionist liking Stiff Little Fingers escalated somehow to a blogpost laying a whole era of Anglo-Irish history at her door:

“Its [sic] because of people with attitudes like McCarthy’s that the Troubles lasted so long” – Shane Greer

Thank god, as a provincial Labour councillor, Kerry McCarthy and her musical observations were well away from the levers of power in Westminster in 1998 – otherwise none of the following would have transpired!

Later this week: Douglas Carswell’s role in the 9/11 attacks

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