Mark Andrews on Saturday: Putting MPs in a pickle, and a Stella way to bring back the good old days
At the turn of the century, it was not unusual for young mothers in the Black Country to bring their children to work with them, dumping them in front of the furnace while they shaped red-hot iron into chains.
Not an entirely satisfactory situation, I think you would agree, and thankfully the workplace has moved on a little from those days.
At least unless you are Stella Creasy. The normally excellent campaigning MP seems to have gone a little native this week, protesting after being asked not to bring her 13-week-old son into the chamber of the Commons. Despite Parliament having a very expensive, taxpayer-funded creche, she brought the little mite in on Wednesday for a debate about financial regulation. Understandably, he snoozed right through his mother's contribution. Which probably makes him a shoo-in for the House of Lords.
Later on, she took the lad to an awards night at the Spectator magazine, finishing at 11pm. The showboating continued the next morning with an appearance on the Lorraine Kelly show.
I suppose, for the child's sake at least, we should be glad Miss Creasy doesn't work on a building site.
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While the Owen Paterson affair looks set to spell the end for MPs' consultancy work, I hope it doesn't mean the end of all second jobs. I would personally quite like to see one or two of them follow the lead of Black Country barmaid Jade Morgan, who has landed a very interesting second job indeed.
When not pulling pints at her local Wetherspoons, the 22-year-old from Dudley picks up £400 a week as a 'pickled person', squeezing herself into a 2ft by 18in pickle jar as part of a circus act. I'm sure you would all agree that the sight of Mark Francois or Diane Abbott squeezed into a jar of pickle would make a huge contribution to the gaiety of the nation.
Jade practises for the role by curling up inside the washing machine, occasionally helped by her mother who gives a friendly shove. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when this goes wrong.
"Hello, fire brigade? I was just pushing my daughter into the washing machine, and she appears to have got stuck."
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Meanwhile fans of Oliver Rock, one of the Loctite louts from Insulate Britain, have donated more than eight grand towards the cost of his rent while he is detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure.
Fair enough, if that's what people want to do with their money. It certainly sounds like a nice little earner for Olly, given that his rent is £700 a month and he is probably only going to be inside for nine weeks. But wouldn't they do better using their fundraising talents to, er, Insulate Britain?
