Various MPs live on high-rise housing estates for to make them media faces, I guess....

Well, Austin Mitchell and wife seem to want to become the next Neil/Christine Hamilton by mugging profusely...

.. nobody saw this?

I saw IDS saying "I LIVE...UNDER...BIG BEN....IT BIG CLOCK...YOU UNDERSTAND?" and the other guy getting cussed out by surly kids in Lozells and then went to shower

Mark Oaten lying face down on some grass in a tracksuit because some working class people laughed at his coprophile rent boy scandal was pretty interesting TV

I saw this. Woman who is hosting Mark Oaten is fanastic. Austin Mitchell's wife is a plonker.

why did no one tell me this was going to be on

god your country is so hilarious

It's a series, I believe.

Ian Duncan Smith had to drop out as his wife got ill and he had to return home.

...which was kind of a shame because he seemed surprisingly relatable and interested in his hosts.

What is the name of this programme?

Celebrity Hoodie Swap Booze Factor iirc

oaten is doing reality tv?

this country just gets better and better.

I'd say you have some 4OD business to attend to.

There was a bit at the end of this when Mark Oaten encountered a BNP voter who claimed he wasn't a racist, and then Oaten said something like, "I guess what I need to figure out now is whether or not the BNP have got racist views..." really?

Austin Mitchell and Wifey ended up offering the most cringe-inducing moments for me once Ian Duncan Smith left. They're just not really trying, are they?

So, this week Torylady is "well, Council tower blocks are much nicer than I remember them, and all this on benefits?"

although the preview for next week has her saying "um, I may be doing more harm than good here"

It's interesting that for all that this sort of thing has been done before, the tenants are much more "you expenses claiming LEECh that you are!" and that's when they were being NICE! (i.e. to Mark Oaten)

"Life in a council estate is markedly better today than it was when I was growing up. There are laptops and mobile phones and beautiful furnishings and all this is done on benefits!"

I guess Torylady was allocated a better place than the others. It looked way more spacious, modern, and well-furnished. I didn't really understand the situation of that host though, I thought she'd been evicted from her council flat? So is her current place a council unit or is she renting privately somewhere? Anyway I was pretty surprised that Torylady said what she did. And Austin Mitchell's misogyny/assholery is REALLY aggravating.

She was evicted from her council house, she was in a flat that was so not-nice, she was staying with her friend (I think that was the situation)..

Oh right, yeah, so the place shown in the ep was the quieter sister's place then (I think it said they were sisters). The mouthy one is the one living in temporary accomodation but that wasn't shown at all, though it would've been interesting to see (seems unfair that Torylady had a bit of an easier time than the other MPs, aside from being grilled on expenses and claims and hiding money in her tits).

Well, I suppose somebody had to have the easier one.

hiding money in her tits
Oh god 'torylady' is Nadine Dorries? I wouldn't what she was blathering about on the radio the other day.

"um, I may be doing more harm than good here"

This would be her saying there should be less government intervention though, right? So pretty much the Party line?

I wouldn't what = I wondered what...

WHAT IS THIS PROGRAMME CALLED DUDES?

Srsly IDS + Mark Oaten + Nadine Dorries is like some kind of Pokemon shit for joke politicians. All they need is Lembit Opik and Gordon Brown and they've got the set.

It is called Tower Block of Commons, and can be watched here:

http://www.youtube.com/show?p=PR1ZNDYZpfo&feature=fvsp

"Tower Block of Commons"

Review: Tower Block of Commons29 Jan 2010 ... Although Loughton and Dorries argue that their time in the tower block strengthened their belief in Broken Britain, all are optimistic about ...
www.totalpolitics.com/blogs/.../review-tower-block-of-commons - Cached -

Hohum, and in the end....

Austin Mitchell says reality TV show was 'big mistake'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8518748.stm

Mr Mitchell said 'smarter Labour MPs' turned down the programme

Labour MP Austin Mitchell has said he regrets taking part in a TV show which he claimed set out to "humiliate MPs".

He said he appeared in Tower Block of Commons, in which four MPs live on some of Britain's most deprived estates, "to put the case for council housing".

But Mr Mitchell said he was portrayed as "greedy and out of touch", adding: "I should never have fallen for it."

So, series ends.

Labour MP gets a process going

LibDem MP gets a residents action group started

Cons MP gets a lad to meet the nice David Cameron...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/cameron203.jpg

... second only to Bullingdon Club photo in the Any Excuse stakes