A Sad Loss

Of all the MPs who lost their seats in the election, none struck such as a blow as that of Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West.

To the liberal minded among us and to those working in the area of women’s rights he was something of a hero. To The Daily Mail and The Torygraph he was dubbed ‘Dr Death’. In fact the Torygraph published an article this weekend gleefully reveling in his loss of seat – the article basically reads as ‘ding dong the witch is dead’.

Harris is not only a tireless campaigner for women’s rights and LGBT rights (he is President of DELGA) but he also opposed ID cards, student top up fees and was vociferous in his opposition to the Iraq War.

A thorn in the side of Tory favourite Nadine Dorries, he battled to keep the abortion limit at 24 weeks when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill went before parliament last year.


During the campaign, Harris received the support of, among others, Stephen Fry who said of Harris: ‘’he is by far and away the most persuasive and impressive parliamentarian in the cause of good and open science and enquiry that we have had in the past decade. He has been central to mould-breaking and inspirational multiparty cooperation in issues of scientific concern’’.

How sad that while Evan has lost his seat, the likes of Nadine Dorries are still powering on. Dorries wants to see the abortion limit lowered, wants parents to be able to opt their children out of sex education and generally wants to get her face on the television at every opportunity to spout right-wing bile. (Tower Block of Commons anyone?)

I was surprised recently to see her writing about the sexual objectification of women and the amount of billboards and bus ads using semi naked women. ‘Wow’ I thought, ‘is Nadine finally speaking out on behalf of women rather than holding them back in the dark ages??’ The answer was no. At the end of her article she ended with this: ‘’And no, I haven’t turned into a feminist overnight - heaven forbid! This is not about wearing a feminist hair shirt. It’s about knowing the difference between what is right and wrong.’’ And then she mentioned God. Sigh…

Take a look at Nadine's blog, see below:

http://blog.dorries.org/id-1011-2008_6_G2.aspx

Where have all the women gone?

So, the TV ads for Channel 4's alternative election night didnt feature Lauren Laverne and the preview write ups didnt mention her either. Then the publicity shots appearing in guides a few days before the election suddenly featured a photoshopped-in Laverne. Hmmmmm last minute C4 exec meeting: ''Shit. We have three white men fronting the coverage of the big election race between.... three white men. Better get a woman in quick. A Black or Asian one if possible.... June Sarpong's not availble? Damnit... Well find me a woman quick!''

Poor Lauren didnt get to make any jokes or political comment til right at the end but was left doing the links to the adverts. The woman's five months pregant as well... bet she wonders why she bothered standing around for 3 hours in a hot studio when she could have been watching curled up on the sofa like the rest of us.

A flick through the other channels revealed more shows fronted by lots and lots of white men.

It's such a shame presenters like Laverne - witty, sharp, funny and outspoken - arent better utilised on our screens. Instead we have 17 shows presented by either Fearne Cotton or Holly Willoughby. Or Fearne Cotton. In fact now we even have 'Kate off The Apprentice' fronting a national TV show. Dire.

Anyone watching the recent episode of Have I got News For You with Victoria Coren surely couldn't help but notice the look of utter fear on her usually confident face at the start of the show and I am embarassed to admit even I thought 'poor girl, she is going to get ripped apart' but she warmed up and ended up stealing the show, even managing to throw a few savage put downs Paul Merton's way. Nicely done Coren.

So come on. More funny, clever women on tele please. Then maybe we can work our way up to more women in Parliament too? I always knew women were poorly represented in the House of Commons but I didnt realise until recently that we actually have less female MPs than Rwanda or Afghanistan.

Oh well, at least we have Fearne Cotton. And Holly Willoughby.