however does she manage it?

this was sent to me by a correspondent who described it as "Rachel Eden spouting out of her other orifice".  Well, I would not presume to comment on that, however do read the piece, it is a guest post by Ms Eden, whom, I repeat, I do not know in person; I know only that she is being pushed as the Labour parliamentary candidate for  Reading West.  Anyway, she posts there on a blog for mummies, yummy or otherwise, and it really is a "however does she manage it"? kind of thing.  And yet, let us deconstruct this a little.  She is a borough councillor, a member of the group which has just taken control of the council as a minority administration.  I was a councillor for ten years on that very council, latterly lead councillor for Arts and Leisure as it was then, and held a number of positions.  Also in Labour control.  So I know at least something about the onerousness of those duties.  For all that time I had a full-time, fairly demanding job outside the council and was the breadwinner of my family.  I went into politics as an elected representative when my younger child was seven, so not a baby - Ms Eden is the mother of a baby girl, I would guess about a year old.  But Ms Eden holds no paid employment outside her council duties, and even though council allowances are considerably more generous than they were in My Day it is not possible to live on them, at least not in Reading, and certainly not to keep a family on them.  So the husband Ms Eden acknowledges is in residence must be supporting the family financially.  For me that would have been an impossible dream.  Ms Eden also refers to her own mother, and to at least one other family member, turning up and babysitting while she attends meetings (I hope she did not claim childcare allowance for those meetings, hein?), something I never had.  She also has a cleaner, ditto for me until much later.

So, even in my current tranked state (Tramadol, might in future be tempted to use it recreationally, no, just kidding folks) while I recover from a broken rib and the finest medical minds of this part of France try to decide whether I also have pneumothorax and/or a collapsed lung, I can see that Ms Eden has a privileged life and is very far from "however does she manage it?"  Nicola Horlick (remember her?)  she ain't.

Still, I wish Rachel well in her quest for a parliamentary seat.  If she does get elected somewhere, and I strongly suspect it will not be in Reading West, as when she is selected the boys will see to that, if the electorate do not look as though they are minded to, look what they did to Anneliese Dodds, she will find that walks in the park with hubby while mummy babysits, then leisurely lunches with girlfriends, are not the stuff of an MP's life.  No.  There is actual WORK to be done.  Ever done any of that Rache?  Hope so.

Good to have pre-publicity for the campaign, though, I am sure you will agree.