Murder of MP Jo Cox

NE

newsman1 17 June 2016 12:43pm

"British Lawmaker" seems to be the preferred term in the US; it's what CNN have been describing her as all morning. To be fair, local MPs don't make international news very often, so this slightly clunky term may not have been thought up until yesterday.

Generally speaking, should an MP (other than The Prime Minister) make international news they're often also in the Cabinet and as such are described as "Finance Minister" rather than Chancellor of the Exchequer and so on.

It still annoys me that US networks often refer to David Cameron as "Prime Minister Cameron" - which is a form of words utterly unused in the UK, but does fit with the American pattern of "President Obama".

These things are always tricky when dealing with an international audience. It's I suppose similar to dealing with things like the difference between Presidents and Prime Minister in countries like France, where they have both - they have very different roles and responsibilities.

The word "lawmaker" has been used in the US for quite some time. I remember hearing it on the TV series "24" back in 2006.

SC

scottishtv Founding member 17 June 2016 1:05pm

The term is widely used in US news, and it's useful as it can be used to collectively describe "lawmakers" at the different levels of governance they have.

It's a term I actually quite like, as making laws is quite a big part of what our elected representatives do, and I think it's helpful in answering the age-old question of "What has my MP ever done for me?".

Having worked for a politician briefly in the past, some people think there's a chain of command between local councils, MSPs (up here) and MPs, and if you don't get your bins emptied or those double-yellow lines repainted, you just go further up the chain to the "bigger boss".

Also, to say that Opposition MPs aren't "lawmakers" is also incorrect. They can and do add amendments to legislation at committee stage, they might be lucky enough to introduce a Private Members Bill, or they could of course vote with the party of Government's position.

Apologies for dragging this further off-topic. I'm just quite passionate about the process of democracy and wish the public at large knew more about it (and had a little bit more respect for it) - even if they don't always agree with the outcomes.

RK

Rkolsen 17 June 2016 1:09pm

deejay posted:

"British Lawmaker" seems to be the preferred term in the US; it's what CNN have been describing her as all morning. To be fair, local MPs don't make international news very often, so this slightly clunky term may not have been thought up until yesterday.

It still annoys me that US networks often refer to David Cameron as "Prime Minister Cameron" - which is a form of words utterly unused in the UK, but does fit with the American pattern of "President Obama".

As an aside there's an unwritten rule in the US among broadcasters that you should never put up an Aston to identify the president if he/she is talking. However if it's something to give context like "President Obama is speaking at the Orlando Memorial" that's considered okay but just to have the name up on screen by itself isn't. Is this true for the UK?

LO

Londoner 17 June 2016 1:14pm

Rkolsen posted:

As an aside there's an unwritten rule in the US among broadcasters that you should never put up an Aston to identify the president if he/she is talking. However if it's something to give context like "President Obama is speaking at the Orlando Memorial" that's considered okay but just to have the name up on screen by itself isn't. Is this true for the UK?

Yes, a similar convention applies in UK TV news for the Prime Minister, the Queen and the Pope.

DV

dvboy 17 June 2016 1:47pm

Charlie Wells posted:

thegeek posted:

He's interviewed Hilary Benn (Remain), George Osborne (Remain) and Nigel Farage (Leave) - presumably he'll need to speak to someone else from Leave at some point in the next week in the interests of impartiality.

Quickly glancing at the schedules due to the football I suspect the most likely option would be to reschedule it for Monday at 7pm, instead of The One Show. Alternatively they could instead have a double bill of EastEnders tonight, and then have the interview on Tuesday at 7:30pm.
[Edited for typo]

They daren't mess with EastEnders. It'll be Monday surely but they might scrap the DIY SOS repeat for it rather than The One Show.

Tonight's BBC Wales debate also cancelled.

NE

News96 17 June 2016 2:20pm

So the NC Will propably revert to World News Today at 9:00 tonight (as they were due to carry the now cancelled BBC Wales EU debate).

Also Eastenders isn't supposed to be shown on Monday anyway-The Current schedule for Monday night is

7:00-The One Show
7:30-EU Reality Check with Nick Robinson
8:00-DIY SOS (Repeat)
9:00-The Muskerteers

But yes they may scrap the DIY SOS Repeat have the Andrew Neil interview at 8:00 and something else at 8:30.

Last edited by News96 on 17 June 2016 2:30pm

VM

VMPhil 17 June 2016 2:21pm

The breaking news ticker on BBC Parliament is back, reporting the news that parliament is to be recalled on Monday.

GE

thegeek Founding member 17 June 2016 2:38pm

High-profile campaigning has also been suspended for Saturday,

HO

House 17 June 2016 3:11pm

thegeek posted:

High-profile campaigning has also been suspended for Saturday,

Will be very interesting to see what the campaigns do on Monday, given Parliament will be recalled and it would be in bad taste for any serving MPs to be out campaigning instead of paying their respects. Yet that only leaves Sunday (potentially) and Tuesday and Wednesday before the campaigning is over.

:-(

A former member 17 June 2016 3:56pm

House posted:

thegeek posted:

High-profile campaigning has also been suspended for Saturday,

Will be very interesting to see what the campaigns do on Monday, given Parliament will be recalled and it would be in bad taste for any serving MPs to be out campaigning instead of paying their respects. Yet that only leaves Sunday (potentially) and Tuesday and Wednesday before the campaigning is over.

Im sure the last six months has given everyone plenty of time to deal with campaigning......

SE

Square Eyes Founding member 17 June 2016 4:16pm

Any news on whether the usual weekend political shows are going ahead, Marr, Peston, Sunday Politics etc ?

NE

News96 17 June 2016 4:23pm

Square Eyes posted:

Any news on whether the usual weekend political shows are going ahead, Marr, Peston, Sunday Politics etc ?

And the Question Time special for remain on Sunday evening.

(June 2016)