|
|
Post by greatkingrat on Sept 7, 2023 23:05:57 GMT
Just wanted to say Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin don't take the Oath, so they're not really absent. They're not at fault, really. Nadine was an absent MP and should have been punished. If Nadine defected to Sinn Fein would that have made her absence OK? |
|
|
|
Post by doktorb🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ on Sept 7, 2023 23:47:24 GMT
Sinn Féin don't take the Oath, so they're not really absent. They're not at fault, really. Nadine was an absent MP and should have been punished. If Nadine defected to Sinn Fein would that have made her absence OK? That's a very interesting constitutional question which I'm sure the wider forum will be racing to answer. |
|
Sandy
Forum Regular
Posts: 3,187 
|
Post by Sandy on Sept 8, 2023 0:02:39 GMT
If Nadine defected to Sinn Fein would that have made her absence OK? That's a very interesting constitutional question which I'm sure the wider forum will be racing to answer. Why don’t you start the ball rolling? |
|
|
|
Post by carlton43 on Sept 8, 2023 8:33:57 GMT
So lets just say you repeat the rule for councillors and demand a certain level from attendance of MPs. What will happen in a situation like this? Dorries could easily have turned up once, done nothing, and met the requirement. I would also vehemently oppose any attempt to make holding surgeries mandatory. It is not a principal part of the role of a member of a legislative body. I've never heard of an MP holding surgeries in Canada (there is a requirement to have a staffed, public office in the constituency where electors can meet staff/caseworkers, through). Well, indeed, neither have I, and as one who is very undersold on such activity, it does not concern me at all. But I am intrigued about holding such surgeries in Canada! One supposes that is to put off all but those who are very determined indeed from ever seeing their MP? Gives a bit of quiet time out for the MPs abroad on full expenses with the pleasing prospect of possibly no one attending the surgery at all? It would thus tend to mirror our medical experience of finding it nearly impossible to get to a surgery here in England now that GPs having all but given up on the concept after their Covid experience of the joys of stopping doing it at all. |
|
|
|
Post by uthacalthing on Sept 8, 2023 10:31:07 GMT
Indeed, now that public servants are permitted to "work from home" some have identified that Home is where the heart is and if their heart is set on a poolside in Ibiza, then they can work form there
They are small in number, but they are our most enterprising
|
|
neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 25,023
|
Post by neilm on Sept 8, 2023 10:48:28 GMT
So lets just say you repeat the rule for councillors and demand a certain level from attendance of MPs. What will happen in a situation like this? Dorries could easily have turned up once, done nothing, and met the requirement. I would also vehemently oppose any attempt to make holding surgeries mandatory. It is not a principal part of the role of a member of a legislative body. I've never heard of an MP holding surgeries in Canada (there is a requirement to have a staffed, public office in the constituency where electors can meet staff/caseworkers, through). I wonder if that is because of the size of some ridings? If you're the MP for Montreal Central (I've made that up, I don't know what it's called) then a surgery is probably easy enough to organise. If you're the MP for Yukon (now the largest single member seat in the world) it would be near impossible. Members would be under pressure to achieve the impossible if even a few others started doing it. Australia must be the same: Durack must be nearly impossible to organise and Kalgoorlie would have required so much planning it wouldn't have been worth it. Far better to plan a tour and hope that someone turns up when you're taking a photo in the middle of nowhere. |
|
|
|
Post by Pete Whitehead on Sept 8, 2023 10:52:45 GMT
I've never heard of an MP holding surgeries in Canada (there is a requirement to have a staffed, public office in the constituency where electors can meet staff/caseworkers, through). I wonder if that is because of the size of some ridings? If you're the MP for Montreal Central (I've made that up, I don't know what it's called) then a surgery is probably easy enough to organise. If you're the MP for Yukon (now the largest single member seat in the world) it would be near impossible. Members would be under pressure to achieve the impossible if even a few others started doing it. Australia must be the same: Durack must be nearly impossible to organise and Kalgoorlie would have required so much planning it wouldn't have been worth it. Far better to plan a tour and hope that someone turns up when you're taking a photo in the middle of nowhere. Isn't that Nunavut? (Western Arctic is also larger) |
|
Max
Labour
Posts: 208
|
Post by Max on Sept 8, 2023 10:55:36 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Wisconsin on Sept 8, 2023 11:11:54 GMT
The Wikipedia article on the Durack constituency in Western Australia gives this top four:
Yakutsk
Nunavut
Alaska
Durack
|
|
|
|
Post by LDCaerdydd on Sept 8, 2023 11:35:57 GMT
Sinn Féin don't take the Oath, so they're not really absent. They're not at fault, really. Nadine was an absent MP and should have been punished. That post was liked by LDCaerdyddIndeed. I liked it as it’s factually accurate. |
|
|
|
Post by LDCaerdydd on Sept 8, 2023 11:37:42 GMT
Sinn Féin don't take the Oath, so they're not really absent. They're not at fault, really. Nadine was an absent MP and should have been punished. If Nadine defected to Sinn Fein would that have made her absence OK? Well if she did and stopped taking the salary it would be better but far from ‘OK’. As has been pointed out numerous times Sinn Fein candidates stand on a promise/pledge to not take the oath, salary and debates/proceedings etc. |
|
neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 25,023
|
Post by neilm on Sept 8, 2023 11:46:46 GMT
I wonder if that is because of the size of some ridings? If you're the MP for Montreal Central (I've made that up, I don't know what it's called) then a surgery is probably easy enough to organise. If you're the MP for Yukon (now the largest single member seat in the world) it would be near impossible. Members would be under pressure to achieve the impossible if even a few others started doing it. Australia must be the same: Durack must be nearly impossible to organise and Kalgoorlie would have required so much planning it wouldn't have been worth it. Far better to plan a tour and hope that someone turns up when you're taking a photo in the middle of nowhere. Isn't that Nunavut? (Western Arctic is also larger) Yes, I meant Nunavut. My mistake entirely. Although it turns out that it's Yakutsk. |
|
|
|
Post by greatkingrat on Sept 8, 2023 13:01:57 GMT
Which puts into perspective some of the objections we get in our boundary reviews about how awful a seat is because you might have to leave the seat for a few hundred yards to get from one part to the other.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnloony on Sept 8, 2023 13:53:59 GMT
Isn't that Nunavut? (Western Arctic is also larger) Yes, I meant Nunavut. My mistake entirely. Although it turns out that it's Yakutsk. Wait, what? Yukon is Yakutsk? Does that mean that Russia has annexed Yukon, or that Canada has invaded and occupied Siberia? And how man people would even notice, if they did? |
|
|
|
Post by johnloony on Sept 8, 2023 13:57:50 GMT
A few interesting election results there - three-way marginals, a two-way marginal, and lots of splitting and churning. |
|
|
|
Post by Pete Whitehead on Sept 8, 2023 14:40:24 GMT
A few interesting election results there - three-way marginals, a two-way marginal, and lots of splitting and churning. Much like Nunavut in fact (and both seats currently represented by Communists) |
|
