The longest Serving Female MP in the UK has died aged 77.

Rarely do I hear of the death of a politician with such sadness.
A poem from myself in her honour.

To the Wonderful Gwyneth

Gwyneth, a veritable dragon lady.
A bulwark against glamour and spin.
Clad with leather, impermeable to mortal thrusts.

A mind like a lazer beam,
and a voice just as cutting,
made the lush weeds of hypocrisy wither under her fiery analysis.

Now give them hell in heaven!
Smug angelic Bastards.
They need a good roasting up there too.

http://www.24dash.com/media/image/2008/04/18/3253/180_Image_gwyneth_dunwoody.jpg

You may not be familiar with her. You probably are not unless you are a devotee of British Politics. She never reached the higher end of the game because she would never allow her principles to be compromised. She could not be relied on to support something she disagreed with just because it suited temporary party policy.
Here are a few of the tributes MPs from all sides have paid her.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7353743.stm

No response.
Nobody else loved Gwyneth.
She was my favourite MP.
:bawl:

OK. I'll open it up a bit.

Which MP (or whatever the US, Australian, Indian etc equivalent is)
do you love for being totally honest and a pain in the arse to all his/her career-minded fellows?

sorry, you say MP and I think Military Police. And that's not what she was, was it??:confused:

No, Member of Parliament.
I don't have a favourite Military Policeman.
That would be a bit gay.

I could never really decide, but is the British political system the same as the American meaning seemingly there are 2 parties and they keep changing the power but nothing else really changes???

I could never really decide, but is the British political system the same as the American meaning seemingly there are 2 parties and they keep changing the power but nothing else really changes???

Yes.
We used to have two main parties which were very different from each other,
but in recent years they have become almost indistinguishable.

British politics is pretty interesting. I miss the house of common battles between Tony Blair and Ian Duncan Smith. The funny thing is, In Brittan I cheer for the Conservative party. They seem to be the common sense party over there. And tend not to kiss the ass of the American Presidents.

British politics is pretty interesting. I miss the house of common battles between Tony Blair and Ian Duncan Smith. The funny thing is, In Brittan I cheer for the Conservative party. They seem to be the common sense party over there. And tend not to kiss the ass of the American Presidents.
I've been a labour party supporter all my life, but I don't like the benefit culture. Gordon Brown seems addicted to it. We have a system called tax credits, which means that first they take money off poor people, and then give it back to them if they qualify. They have to virtually beg for their money back.
If they earn extra money off their own back, the tax credits are reduced, leaving them back where they started.
It is an incentive to be dependent. It also means that people must constantly be giving private information.

I think that poor people should be given tax breaks and full support if they want to develop new skills, but means tested benefits are a deadly poison. And any system which requires huge amounts of personal information to be recorded, is intrusive and a threat to personal freedom.

US Politics is getting very interesting.
I've never followed a US election battle as closely as this one.
Or at all, come to think of it.

Democracy is very healthy in the USA at the moment.
Or is it? Tell me.

British politics is pretty interesting. I miss the house of common battles between Tony Blair and Ian Duncan Smith. The funny thing is, In Brittan I cheer for the Conservative party. They seem to be the common sense party over there. And tend not to kiss the ass of the American Presidents.

The Tories certainly have improved a lot in the last 5 years or so - getting trounced by Labour was one of the best things that has happened to them.
They have dropped a great deal of the sort of sickeningly sentimental social conservative rhetoric that is such a taint upon parties on the right of the political spectrum - instead they seem at last to be getting to grips with issues that matter.
I still think they have a little way to go before they are electable again, certainly the next election will be the closest in a while, my instinct though is we will see a repeat of the 1992 election - with the incumbent government just about hanging on.

That said, I think any future conservative government even more likely to be a USA lapdog/lackey - they have far more in common in an ideological sense with the two rigfht of centre american parties than they do with the more centrist/lefty european governments

OK. I'll open it up a bit.

Which MP (or whatever the US, Australian, Indian etc equivalent is)
do you love for being totally honest and a pain in the arse to all his/her career-minded fellows?

I always rather liked Dennis Skinner AKA The Beast of Bolsover

His politics are a bit lefty for my tastes but his commitment and passion were never in doubt and he was always great entertainment. I don't doubt that we need more politicians like him of every political flavour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Skinner

I always rather liked Dennis Skinner AKA The Beast of Bolsover

His politics are a bit lefty for my tastes but his commitment and passion were never in doubt and he was always great entertainment. I don't doubt that we need more politicians like him of every political flavour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Skinner

Ah, Dennis. Wonderful man.

So what if you have 1-2 great politicans if the system is rotten???