British politics is witnessing a spate of high-profile resignations, including some of Parliament’s most distinguished members. The number of resignations is not itself extraordinary – 73 MPs have so far announced that they are standing down, against 149 in 2010. Even the amount of women resigning isn’t disproportional to the gender makeup of the House of Commons. And many cited the increased levels of threats and abuse as the reason for their departure. No doubt social media has heralded a new wave of anonymous abuse that cannot be good for the fabric of either country’s political life.

Source: The Irish Times November 13, 2019 15:45 UTC