Please welcome to the BitchBuzz team the fabulous Rebeca Thomson, a reporter at Computer Weekly and contributor over at the WIT blog for Women in IT.
Rebecca is
interested in technology, feminism and eating and has degrees in philosophy
(nearly), journalism and economics. She also likes train journeys, boks and karaoke. (See? She's awesome.)
Just as a disclaimer, I don’t like the Labour party, I don’t
like politicians and I will always hate this government for the Iraq war. But
Sarah Brown? I love her. She’s quietly amassed over 120,000 Twitter followers
while the government appears to be collapsing around her, and seems more
interested in sustainable fishing and the season’s first strawberries than
messy political bitch fights.
For a first lady, she’s quite low profile, especially
compared to people like Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni. Considering the
treatment that women in political life get from the British media, this is
hardly surprising – think Cherie Blair and the obsessive nastiness levelled at
her, and the over-the-top drubbing Jacqui Smith and other female MPs received
over the expenses scandal.
I’m not saying I’m the biggest fan of any of these
people, or that they shouldn’t be criticised, but the out of proportion
treatment they receive is enough to put any woman off politics.
Anyway, Sarah Brown. I’ll skim over my most shallow and
stupid reason for liking her: she looks nice. She looks like she’d be quite fun,
and she seems friendly. Pretend you didn’t read that. Don’t judge me. I just
like people with nice faces.
She’s a patron for Women’s Aid, and has set up her own
charity, Piggy Bank Kids. It was set up after she lost her first child,
Jennifer Jane, when the baby was only ten days old, and it was originally a
research fund to tackle complications in pregnancy. It’s now expanded into a
range of projects that help disadvantaged children.
From her Twitter feed, she seems interested in a massive
range of different issues, and before she became a full-time political wife she
set up and ran her own successful public relations company. She seems more
well-rounded and likable than any of the withered old men that sit on the
front bench of the House of Commons making grunting noises at each other.Yes, Jack Straw, I mean you.
And she’s not bad at public speaking either – she totally
stole the show at last year’s Labour party conference, with a speech
introducing her husband that helped to buy him some time as Labour leader and
somehow make everyone realise just how vicious they were being. I wish we had
the kind of political system that attracted and nurtured more people like her, instead
of just allowing her to be someone’s wife.