Tag Archives: glenda jackson

Mary Reid

Acting and politics

By Mary Reid | Fri 16th June 2023 - 11:42 am

Glenda Jackson was an extraordinary person – not only was she was one of the best actors of her generation, but she also succeeded in a second career as a politician, renowned for her integrity and commitment to social inequality, human rights and feminism.  It is that combination of achievements that fascinates me, not least because my two major pursuits in retirement are politics and drama/theatre.

The BBC has unearthed an interesting interview from 50 years ago:

Actors are always at a disadvantage when they speak out on political issues, because some members of the public assume that they must be “acting”. Hugh Grant came up against this prejudice when he put his weight behind the Hacked Off project. Of course, he was pitting himself against some of the most powerful media personalities in the country so he must have braced himself for a very public attempt at character assassination. They did their best to imply that actors could not be trusted as they were good at “lying”.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Glenda Jackson: Labour’s worst ever transport minister?

By Mark Pack | Tue 30th March 2010 - 10:20 am

Current Secretary of Sate for Transport, Lord Adonis rightly gets praise from across the political spectrum. Although there’s by no means cross-party agreement on some transport issues (think Heathrow for a start), Adonis is generally respected even when he is disagreed with. Whilst he has an extremely strong claim to have been the best Labour transport minister since 1997, some of the competition for that accolade is not exactly stiff.

Indeed, the publication a few days ago of another cross-party Select Committee report into the failings of part-privatisation on the London Underground reminds me of just how bad Labour MP Glenda …

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Posted in London | Also tagged , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

What does Glenda Jackson do?

By Mark Pack | Sun 6th December 2009 - 4:50 pm

My eye was caught by the figures put together by Ed Fordham, the Liberal Democrat candidate in Hampstead & Kilburn who is up against Glenda Jackson at the next general election. They are for various MPs in and around this new constituency.

Number of appearances in Hansard since 2005 general election, excluding votes
Lynne Featherstone 2,559
Sarah Teather 2,542
Frank Dobson 2,508
Average MP 1,822
Karen Buck 1,814
Mark Field 981
Rudy Vis 219
Glenda Jackson 40

In other words, Glenda Jackson would have to be an MP for 64 years in order to chalk up as many appearance in Hansard as Lynne Featherstone manages in one …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Nine months on, Daily Telegraph catches up on our Glenda Jackson story

By Mark Pack | Sun 31st May 2009 - 6:40 pm

Today’s Telegraph story about Labour MP Glenda Jackson and how she repaid £8,000 in expenses that had gone on Labour Party campaigning may seem vaguely familiar to readers of The Voice.

That’s because, ahem, I broke the story back at the start of September, following which a complaint went in that resulted in her having to make the repayment, as reported later that month.

Hat tip: Liberal Vision, though their “breaking news” headline is perhaps a little over-keen 🙂

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
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