MPs are stressed? Well, boo hoo.
Dear Sandra Gidley,
As Joint Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health, I am not surprised to hear you calling for us to be nicer to MPs who are suffering from some form of mental health problem. However, I think you’re rather missing the point. You’ve even gone as far as criticising the law that forces MPs to give up their seats for life if they are sectioned for six months under the Mental Health Act. Looks like you need my assistance in understanding this issue!
As a human being, I hope that I could find some compassion for MPs who develop a common mental illness such as anxiety, depression or stress. As a voter, however, I’m not sure that I want somebody suffering from anxiety, depression or stress voting on the future of this country or being given the role of representing their constituents – and I sure as hell wouldn’t want somebody voting in the Commons when their mental illness is serious enough for them to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act for more than six months! Seriously, some perspective would be helpful here. We’re not talking about somebody feeling a bit run down or overworked – you can surely only be sectioned for disorders such as clinical depression, schizophrenia, manic disorders etc. You might still argue that it’s unfair to ban them for life once they have been sectioned, but it is highly contentious to suggest that people ever fully recover from conditions such as clinical depression so I still support the ban.
Aside from serious mental disorders, your report also found that 86% of MPs were stressed. Well, boo hoo. Most MPs don’t even know what stress means. How about working in an A&E department and having to watch patients bleed to death in front of you? How about being in charge of an overcrowded classroom with 35 teenagers, many of whom have Special Educational Needs or can’t speak English, and trying to teach them GCSE Maths while worrying about whether any of them are carrying knives? How about saving people from burning buildings every day of your life? MPs sit in an office surrounded by lots of paper most of the day, which is the lamest excuse for stress I can think of. Obviously some MPs have held ‘real jobs’ at some point in the past, which I applaud, but those who have lived in the Westminster bubble ever since university have got no right to complain. Besides, they could always spend taxpayers money on a new plasma screen or a spa day if things get too overbearing.
I know that your report discusses other issues such as stigma towards mental illness and possibly hostile media reactions after disclosing mental health problems, but when all is said and done the law is designed to protect voters from MPs who are not able to carry out their duties and once you’ve been sectioned under the Mental Health act, I’d rather the individual in question was kept away from Parliament. Harsh, but fair.
Yours sincerely,
A.Tory
Witanagemot Blogs
Mr A Tory, I share your concerns.
But MPs do have very stressful lives.
Why only today I had to recommend only a 3% pay rise to social workers in a Unison meeting at my constituency. When they find out that I trousered that £1400 ride on mower and £179 for a espresso machine, at the weekend, they will go berserk. That could cause me stress. Luckily good long holiday coming up.
I hope you enjoy your holiday. Of course, if you were an MEP you can claim back a first-class fare for your travel even if you didn’t travel first-class – bet you must be jealous….
I completely agree with you.
Some jobs do require sensible discrimination. Such as the army not employing disabled people as soldiers and schools not employing paedophiles (although there isn’t a test for that one!). I would be horrified if my constituency was run by someone who had to be sectioned. Obviously all MPs are a little wacky but once you get to George III style it’s time to move over.
Common sense is so often ridden over roughshod by the ridiculous human rights monster truck which do not consider anything on a case by case basis.
I know, I’d be horrified too. MPs complaining that they are stressed and should be allowed to keep their jobs even after they are sectioned is just unbelievable. Like you said, this isn’t discrimination – it’s common sense.
And they wonder why people are disillusioned with politicians….
If 86% of them are suffering from mental health problems perhaps we should take their cheap bars away. Drink just isn’t the solution, ask Alastair Campbell!
What do you mean ‘drink isn’t the solution’?
The bastards wanted to section me, but they didn’t have the nerve!
We saw the Jerry off though, so all’s well that ends well.
What’s that? You wanted old Neville to take over again?
You wouldn’t dare pick on me if I had a black dog with me.
If a fireman lost both arms in the course of his work, we would not see any incompatibility between assuming that he could no longer work as a fireman and feeling compassion for his plight. In assuming that he should no longer be a fireman, we express compassion for the possible victims of future fires who will expect the atending fireman to be able to lift them from danger.
MPs are expected to think, in the same way that firemen are expected to lift and carry things. If MPs suffer from a medical incapacity affecting their ability to think, then there is no lack of compassion in expecting them to cease being MPs. There is, merely, common sense.
If Sandra Gidley is incapable of even the brief moment of thought required to distinguish these concepts, then I must question her own suitability for the position.
Are you suggesting that Sandra should be sectioned?
Sectioned? For what, I wonder?
Paranoid? Quite possibly, but then again just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? Probably a pre-requisite for election as an MP, so the precedent that would be set is a little worrying.
Clinical depression? Unlikely, most MPs are causes of this, not sufferers.
Narcissistic personality disorder? Again, applies to most MPs so we should only diagnose it if we are happy to empty the chamber…
Kleptomania? No, that would just be the Chancellor and his immediate predecessor.
Reassuring to know you still are the nasty party!