Mhairi Black, deputy leader of the SNP in the House of Commons, announced this week that she will not contest the next election, describing Westminster as "outdated, sexist and toxic".
The claim that the ramshackle House of Commons in London, which dates from 1852, is outdated will probably not surprise many of us who have witnessed its archaic shenanigans.
It does look more like the set from a failed of Game of Thrones follow-up. As do many of its leading characters – former Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg would, after all, make a great baddie.
Indeed, there is a long-running debate over renovating the crumbling building and decanting the politicians to a government building, Richmond House, in Whitehall. While the Lords, according to Michael Gove, could perhaps flit temporarily to Stoke-on-Trent.
This hasn't pleased the politicians – for a start decanting sounds like something that happens to council tennants – and many of the MPs probably couldn't even find Stoke without the help of a satnav – charged to expenses, of course.
READ MORE: Our politicians are rubbish nowadays - or are they?
So is Westminster sexist? Yes, that's probably a given. Many readers will remember David Cameron telling Labour’s Angela Eagle to “calm down dear” during a Commons exchange. Even more seriously, tales of women being subjected to groping in Commons bars are legion – with the parliamentary watchdog never short of complaints of sexual misconduct by MPs and Ministers.
This week, former Tory MP Chris Pincher faced a suspension from the House of Commons for eight weeks after a report into groping claims.
So outdated and sexist, yes, but toxic?
Toxic, which derives from the Greek meaning 'poison for arrow', was Oxford Dictionary's word of the year in 2018 and beat contenders such as 'gaslighting,' 'incel' and 'techlash.'
It's not hard to see how techlash didn't take off. It just sounds off, doesn't it?
Katherine Connor Martin, head of US dictionaries, said at the time the word was chosen for the wide variety of contexts in which it is used, from politics, to gender roles to the #MeToo movement.
That sheer ubiquity has diluted its power. After the initial buzz, it becomes just another piece of jargon – thrown around like meaningless promises at a party conference.
But politicians love it because it signifies that the user is in the in-crowd and that they are speaking to a certain section of the population who can decipher what toxic means (broadly on the left, anti-racist, anti-sexist, and very aware of climate issues). This excludes those in the out-crowd who don't 'get' these issues which is the opposite of clear communication which everyone understands.
Of course, some people may worry that the term is used to close down debate – not open it up.
If something is toxic it's beyond the pale and irredeemable. So rather than focussing on Black's impact as a constituency MP or her contribution to the SNP, the attention shifts away from her and onto the institution which has been damned.
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