First off, my “condolences,” such as they are (I don’t really know what word to use) on the horror and the challenge to democracy.
All the Brit reports say she was shot in her constituency. In USA, the word means “the people for/of whom she is the political representative.”
I don’t understand the basic story. Does that mean “I in her headquarters/office?” Or simply (as USA meaning has it, but not usage) within the boundaries of her electoral district?
Eventually the US press will pick up the story, of course, and I will learn the answer.
Canada still uses Constituency, alternatively Riding, for the electoral district from which a legislative member is elected, at both the federal and provincial level.
Yes, constituency in this case would refer to what the US would call the district. A longer phrase that has also been used is that she was shot at/outside her “constituency advice surgery” which apparently refers to a regularly scheduled meeting with citizens at the district.
That’s correct but it is normally just “constituency surgery” without the “advice”. All MP’s hold them regularly in community centres and other places (in this case a local library) across their patch where any member of the public can bring them there problems.
Really sad. She was young, popular, enthusiastic and a rising star. I didn’t agree with her politics but we need more like her in Parliament.
The whole country is divided up into constituencies which are supposed to have roughly the same population. At an election, everyone registered in that constituency can vote for one candidate from a list of hopefuls; most of whom will be chosen by their political parties.Jo was a Labour MP - that is the left wing party here.
Any idea why they’re called “surgeries?” (And forgive me now for drifting the thread to less urgent needs and topics, and back to good old us-and-them language stuff.)
I’ve always assumed that they were like medical doctors’ surgeries, i.e., a place where you can call in and tell your doctor/MP your problems in the hope that the doctor/MP can solve them for you.
How often does an MP reside in the district they represent? I know you’re allowed to live outside your district boundries (unlike the U.S. where a congressperson must live in the state they are elected from, and in the case of House members always live in their district by tradition).
MPs have to be in their constituencies fairly regularly, so commonly (but not invariably) if they don’t already live there they acquire a residence in the constituency, which has the twin advantages of (a) convenience, and (b) being able to present yourself as a local.
But voters are little bit more sophisticated than that. A “local” MP is not one who lives in the constituency now; it’s one who has long-standing links. Perhaps he was born there, or grew up there.
Here’sa link to an Economist article suggested that constituency links are much more important than they used to be. According a study cited in the article, only 25% of UK MPs had pre-existing links to their constituencies in 1979, but by 1997 the figure had risen to 45% and, per another study, to 63% by 2014.
But, as the figures show, even now a large proportion of MPs are elected in constituencies to which they have no pre-existing link. In fact, you don’t even have to be from the same country as your constituency; Enoch Powell, an Englishman who had lived in England all his life and sat for an English constituency for 24 years, was elected at the age of 62 for an Irish constituency, and represented it for 13 years. (He did acquire a home in the constituency, if I remember rightly, but didn’t give up his home in London, and he mainly lived in London.) Roy Jenkins, a Welshman, sat for English and Scottish constituencies, but never for a Welsh constituency. Again, although Glasgow was by his own admission a completely foreign city to him, when he was nominated for election there he acquired a flat in the constituency and based himself there.
Margaret Thatcher neither came from nor live in Finchley, the constituency she represented for many years. She came from Grantham in Lincolnshire, and lived in Chelsea,
Yeah but there’s a number of correlations, and correlations are not causations.
But it may be the number of correlations that are the cause
doctors surgery, political surgery
1:1 yes
appoints, yes
the one expert attends, yes
try to get a result, yes
buearacrtaic forms and stuff , yes
blood , guts, death, etc Well arguable, but no
consultations occur yes
I guess its the consultation … the idea is that the member of the public is doing the consultation, its not the MP consulting the member of the public. (when its peer to peer its a meeting.)
Its named that way to be purely “the expert helps the public” … sorta admitting the public isn’t helping the MP… have to wonder if one day the MP stood up in parliament
“Member for Riding, you just said that you consulted with Esmay Watson, the 95 year old from the sea side town , Did you learn anything in that consultation ? Did you present your budget to her and get her to give comment on it ? Did you have to pay her for her services , I dont see the payment on your outgoings ! Are you hiding something ?”
I see that an MP in November 1950 had to define it to the house.
So it seems if the newspaper article was saying it was “a few years ago” in 1951,
it was before Wade and reinforced that was due to Braithwaite, who was in with Churchill and had such a power.
One would say that was around the time of Invention. The safety pin is said to have been invented in 1850’s by Mr Hunt (who battled Singer over the sewing machine BTW), but he must have also invented a time machine too, because small , hardly visible, spring clip pins - smaller than the typical fibula( a type of belt buckle) - used for pinning clothing together were in use almost 3000 years ago !.
“Surgery” as the word for a place where, or a set time during which, patients are examined, problems diagnosed and treatments prescribed or administered goes back to the mid-nineteenth century. What MPs do for their constituents is similar, except the the problems are administrative or legal rather than medical in nature, and the word “surgery” is applied analogically. The OED has cites for the political usage back to 1951, but Isilder has found one from 1946.
The same sessions are sometimes also called “clinics”, which is a similar analogy from a medical usage.
Presumably US public representatives provide a similar service to constituents. Is the a US English term for a session in which a public representative is avaiable to constituents, to listen to their concerns and provide advice and/or representation?
At the federal level, I don’t think there is an expectation of being able to meet a member of Congress personally in that kind of setting. I went to a few congressional web pages, and a lot mention “office hours,” but if you went you’d expect to meet a member of the representative’s staff, not the representative him/herself. There are also “town halls,” but those are large group settings where most people don’t get to air personal grievances.