Advantage Megan? Let's wait and see

Readers of this column will know if there is one thing I will always support its youth involvement in politics. There is nothing more important for a healthy future than an engaged younger generation educating itself on how society is run and prepared to take a role in civic duty and responsibility for what surrounds them. Northern Ireland is probably the UK region with the lowest level of youth disillusionment with politics. In a not entirely positive way, more young people are exposed to politics here earlier and so it’s no real surprise our Assembly now boasts an MLA who is 21. Sinn Fein’s Megan Fearon, a recent graduate of Queens’ was co-opted to take the place of Conor Murphy for Newry and Armagh. As recently as May she was tweeting about her economics finals and clearly found herself in the position of many coming to the end of education when she said: “This time tomorrow il have my economics outta the way and will officially be unemployed! Haha” Now she is in the Assembly and taking her place on committees scrutinising the finance minister and OFMDFM - I’m sure youth unemployment is no longer a laughing matter. Although clearly intelligent, ambitious and an active member with Sinn Fein for years I find the choice of Megan’s co-option bizarre. Here is a young woman, full of potential and clearly with talent being cherry picked to go straight into the Assembly. No previous hands-on experience of local government, at any level, and no election campaign where her constituents can come to their own view on this rather unconventional representative. It is not the sort of political route many will be familiar with and it no doubt puts a lot of pressure on Megan to make an impact right out of the blocks – a tough task for any new MLA, even one buoyed by an election win and security of rising through the ranks of their party’s machinery. Any clips of Megan I have seen it is like a rabbit in headlights and I’m not surprised, a committee debate is a long way from an economics tutorial. I know it doesn’t sound like it but I am actually trying to champion Megan and her ilk, which is why I’ve resisted the temptation to wheel out the ‘she has little life experience’ argument. But I’m frustrated that someone with her ability has not been allowed a normal gestation period in her party. She should be allowed to make her political mistakes of youth in the party’s backroom, to hone her election skills in campaigns for other party members and be allowed to explore her political and moral compass without electoral inhibition as it evolves through her twenties, not be plumped right in the thick of it where one blip could end a promising political career before it’s even started. Good luck, Megan, you’re going to need it.

At last a full frontal assault on Page 3

Actually got around to putting this on the blog this week. Published in all editions of this weeks' Community Telegraph: I've just returned from a holiday in Las Vegas. When I was telling people that’s where I was going for a holiday I almost felt embarrassed, like going there was some sort of indication of big drinking, loose morals and a high rolling lifestyle. I just went for a nosy really. We were staying in a hotel on the main Vegas strip; little did I know it was a particularly appropriate name for the location. One evening as I walked through the casino in search of a Ghostbusters slot machine that had proved lucky the day before, I turned a corner to be confronted by a stripper's bare arse. I couldn’t believe the cheek. Men hollering, girls dancing and money and alcohol doing the rounds, it was like a scene from a bad American Pie remake and caught me so by surprise I nearly choked on my yard glass of Singapore Sling (well I wanted to get into the spirit of the place). I never thought myself opposed to these sorts of shows for whoever wants to pay to partake. But after the sight had sunk into my shocked optic nerves and the gin into my new maxi dress, I realised what I was witnessing was genuinely grotesque. It was cheap and grubby and not least intimidating, casting as it did the roles of ogling men and ogled women throughout the surrounding area regardless of whether you'd signed up to take part or not. But it was 'the party pit' in Vegas so what did I expect, right? But what about when you’re sitting on a bus and the young guy next to you spends most of the journey on page 3 of The Sun? He’s obviously not taking that long to read whatever excuse for a story they put on that page (do they even bother pretending that words have a place there anymore?) and is happy to sit staring at a naked woman for sexual pleasure in a public place. It's a more subtle intimidation, granted, but it's the exact same sort of vulnerability that I experienced when I stumbled on that sex show in Vegas and it’s the same uneasy feeling a lot of women experience - a mixture of being objectified and sickened. Page three is different though, it’s argued, it's a 'British institution'. So was Sir Jimmy Savile. Thank goodness some have wised up to this anachronistic public titillation by setting up an online petition. Take the Bare Boobs Out of The Sun is a plea to the paper's editor Dominic Mohan. Currently signed by over 37,000 people it is calling for page three to be abolished and has garnered support from both sexes united in wishing to end this degrading objectification of women in a national newspaper. It has even got the support from famous faces including Jennifer Saunders, Lauren Laverne and journalist Caitlin Moran who tweeted: "Teenage tits aren't news OR a feature." That’s really the issue stripped bare don’t you think? http://www.change.org