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TM and THAT dress

(342 Posts)
MawBroon Wed 26-Jul-17 07:02:22

OK I am being sexist, but that Next dress on the front of today's DT really got my day off to a bad start. Fair enough, her pins are pretty good, but a woman of her age does NOT IMO wear a little pink shirt dress suitable for a girl/woman less than half her age several inches above the knee.
Girlish? Yuk!
Say what you like about Michelle Obama or Sam Cam but they knew how to look elegant, whether formally dressed or smart casual.
(Brigitte Macron is another whose determination to look "young" irritates me.There is such a thing as trying TOO hard. )

Iam64 Fri 04-Aug-17 07:51:56

I don't believe that Nick Clegg's wife (whose name I can't recall at the moment) sought publicity for not 'wanting to be known as Mrs Clegg'. It was something the media picked up on as a means to criticise her and paint her as part of that monstrous regiment of women who don't see why they should become Mrs x when they marry. I'm one of them and I'm surprised its still seen as an issue by some.

Smithy Fri 04-Aug-17 08:21:15

Think you are right there Iam64. To those who chose not to take Hubby's surname, its not a big deal. In this day and age its a bit outdated anyway. ( although I am divorced and have kept my married surname - perverse)
Back to politics.

gillybob Fri 04-Aug-17 08:21:55

Mrs Corbyn is a bit of an odd one I think. 20 years younger than Jeremy and his 3rd wife (she must like the old sea dog look) she keeps well out of the limelight having turned down the invitation to appear alongside her husband on The One Show and an invitation for a banquet with the queen. Now it could be that she is a very private person and prefers to stay out of the spotlight, although as a coffee importer business woman I can't see that ? Or it could be that she could be easily encouraged or tricked into saying something he wouldn't like to be made public?Or could it be that he might not want her to be asked about selling her imported coffee at £10 a jar which was grown by Mexican farmers paid less than the countries minimum wage?

Whatever it is that attracts her to him I can't imagine them standing side by side outside number 10 waving politely for the cameras.

Anyway really who cares. wink

Anniebach Fri 04-Aug-17 08:57:14

Emily Thornberry stopped using her married name when she became an MP, I suppose Lady Ugee MP doesn't fit comfy with a labour MP

annodomini Fri 04-Aug-17 09:43:24

Cherie Blair is also known as Cherie Booth professionally. By the way whatever has happened to her? I would have bet on her getting a seat in the Lords.

Anniebach Fri 04-Aug-17 09:50:00

I have no problem with women taking their husbands surnames, when there are children I would want to share the name with them.

gillybob Fri 04-Aug-17 09:57:13

I have had so many surnames I've lost count. wink

Anniebach Fri 04-Aug-17 10:06:10

Gilly grin

Jalima1108 Fri 04-Aug-17 10:21:25

Iam64 It may have started off like that but Nick Clegg's wife certainly did not shy from publicity eventually.
sorry, should use her own name but can't remember it and am in a rush.

Jalima1108 Fri 04-Aug-17 10:22:48

I don't care one way or the other, women I worked with used their maiden names at work.

Jalima1108 Fri 04-Aug-17 10:29:12

Beg her pardon:
Miriam González Durántez
smile

Corbyn's wife has kept so much out of the limelight that I didn't realise that she is a human rights lawyer; seems at odds with her company paying less than the minimum wage to the coffee growers if that is true.
Put your own house in order .....

gillybob Fri 04-Aug-17 10:33:55

I didn't think she was a human rights lawyer Jalima I thought she was a coffee importer. confused

petra Fri 04-Aug-17 10:50:52

Seems she has many personas, like her husband grin

Elegran Fri 04-Aug-17 10:57:14

According to the Sun (12 Jun 2017) "she scrapped her career in the financial industry and became an importer of fair trade coffee beans." www.thesun.co.uk/news/3752052/laura-alvarez-jeremy-corbyn-third-wife/

Coffee -
Harpers Bazaar(1 Jun 2017) says "In June 2013, she set up a company importing coffee and chocolate from Mexico. The beans are organic and Fairtrade to ensure that the workers are paid well and treated justly." www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/culture/culture-news/news/a41834/laura-alvarez-jeremy-corbyn-profile/

But the Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk ) says ^"Ms Alvarez, 48, runs a Fair Trade company importing coffee from Mexico but faced embarrassment when the meagre wages paid to some of the farmers producing the coffee were exposed. "http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/who-jeremy-corbyns-wife-laura-10392461"

The source of the "meagre wages" seems to be the Daily Mail (15 Aug 2015) Other papers repeat it.

Elegran Fri 04-Aug-17 10:58:27

Date of the Mirror piece should also be 12 June.

durhamjen Fri 04-Aug-17 11:25:09

There are also quite a few very nice photos of the pair of them together, but you won't find them in the Sun, Express, Mail or Telegraph.

durhamjen Fri 04-Aug-17 11:32:09

I presume you all buy Fairtrade organic coffee?

www.fairtrade.org.uk/Farmers-and-Workers/Coffee

The price she paid the coffee farmers was based on Fairtrade prices, and has nothing to do with selling 500g of coffee beans for £10 in this country. She doesn't sell jars of coffee.

I presume you all know what the farmers are paid for your coffee brand.

durhamjen Fri 04-Aug-17 11:34:23

www.fairtrade.org.uk/Media-Centre/News/August-2015/Response-to-Mail-on-Sunday-article-on-devastating-impacts-of-La-Roya

Maggiemaybe Fri 04-Aug-17 11:54:46

It still surprises me that tabloid smears enter the public consciousness so easily. Anyone got any comments about Ms Alvarez's frocks?

Elegran Fri 04-Aug-17 12:03:17

Thrown mud is very hard to clean off. The stains remain even when the solid lumps are gone and the thrower proved to have been trying to soil their target.

Anniebach Fri 04-Aug-17 12:04:12

How can anyone comment on her frocks , she is never seen.

durhamjen Fri 04-Aug-17 12:08:18

The photos I've seen, Maggie, always show her looking very smart.
She obviously gets on well with Corbyn's sons, too.

gillybob Fri 04-Aug-17 12:11:15

Exactly Anniebach and after the storm that brew up by TM by wearing a perfectly nice, short linen casual, dress whilst on holiday I don't see why we shouldn't comment on the leader of the opposition and his hidden wife's dress sense .

Elegran Fri 04-Aug-17 12:11:24

From dj's link "The coffee brand Café Mam [Mrs Corbyn's brand] which was featured in the article is not a Fairtrade licensee and is affiliated with a different certification body. However Indigenas de la Sierra Madre de Motozintla (ISMAM), the producer co-operative in question, does sell very small volumes of coffee on Fairtrade terms. Unfortunately it seems the resulting return for their hard work is not enough to cushion them against the knocks they currently face.

In the past, ISMAM’s Fairtrade sales have provided higher incomes for farmers, technical assistance and training in organic production and sustainable farming.

Furthermore, the article doesn’t provide a like for like comparison of the final coffee price. The article compares roasted coffee vs the coffee delivered by the producer, which only has part of the process, leaving further processes without consideration (dry milling, roasting, packing, transportation, etc.).

If you buy wheat, say, grind it into flour and bake it into bread, there are a lot of processes in between harvest and final product to be paid for as well the sacks of grain. Same is true of coffee from bean to jar.

durhamjen Fri 04-Aug-17 12:45:13

All you have to do is google Laura Alvarez and you will see lots of photos of her and her dress sense.
She's not hidden at all. It just gives you an excuse to criticise her.