I like her too... she seems very down to earth & skated well. To dislike someone on the strength of a throwaway comment in a VT is ridiculous.

She's refreshing, I expected her to be a bit pants but she was actually good and she comes across as having her feet planted firmly on the grounds, something you don't tend to find with politicians

Pleasantly surprised here.

Over £300 per day plus expenses and an extra £15k for chairing a committee.

Serving politicians shouldn't have time to appear in reality shows (especially one with lots of training like this) if they are serious about their jobs.

She was only made a baroness when the voters kicked her out of the Commons. It's principally for being a Tony Blair apologist.

and look who they voted for - that clown Galloway

Quite. The whole world is one big reality show.

But we have no idea from that VT whether they had just started their training session or whether they had been going for hours and it had reached the stage where she kept checking her watch to make sure she had time to get to where she needed to go.

They are allowed a life outside of politics as well, surely? It's not like Oona's gone into the BB house or the jungle and therefore missing Parliament.

She's fitting the skating around her job. And that's fine.

I disagree. Politics should be a vocation not something you do part-time while building your showbiz profile.

I thought she seemed nice and had potential. She can't help having a job, if she was seen to skip her duties to take part in DOI then she'd come under fire for that too. Torvill and Dean give them all their routines the same day don't they? If thats the case then she'd probably been there a while skating with Mark and they hadn't got round to her by the time she left.

House of Lords is different to the Commons though - you aren't elected & it is often up to the individual how often they turn up. TBH I liked the fact that she still felt it was important to carry out her role. I suspect nearly everyone in the Lords has outside interests. I mean Seb Coe is a member of the Lords - do you really think turning up there has been his priority in recent years when he's had another rather important job to do? (am not a Seb Coe knocker BTW but just being realistic about how much time he will have devoted to the Lords)

Trying to fit her training in with her demanding job? I bet some of the others (the actors) disappear alot as well. They just didn't show that.

Oona could do very well I'd like to see her pushed a bit more as she looks like she can do it.

I thought she seemed lovely, comes across as intelligent, but grounded and most of all seems to be a good skater. I was worried that she might clam up a bit on the ice as she's not got any performing arts experience. The worst I could say was that she was unpolished, and could do a more showy presentation, but that will come. I was thrilled she was saved by the public vote.


Same goes for Alan Sugar. He's a member of the House of Lords, along with many business men and women, Bishops and Law Lords and various others who are not expected to be there on a daily, 9-5 basis.

Of course the VT people wanted to include the bit about her needing to go to vote, because it suggests she might be struggling for time, and therefore not properly rehearsed, and introduces an element of "will she fall on her arse?" to proceedings, much loved by DOI. Obviously, she found time to rehearse as she was excellent!

Loads of politicians have second jobs and as mentioned upthread the Lords is different to the Commons anyway.

Of course it is. She seems a really nice person earning a living like everyone else. You tell me one other 'celeb' on the show who isn't doing the same thing (and probably getting paid much more than her, hello Ms Anderson)

They nearly all have other work.

I thought Oona was great and I am surprised that she is being singled out for a negative thread.

There's work which is important and ego-driven showbiz tat. It is unseemly. Just proves she shouldn't ever have been rewarded for sucking up to Tony.

If it's so unseemly, what are you doing watching it in the first place?

So do you dislike her just because she's a labour politician? Her work in the Lords is important and this is some fun on the side. So long as she is doing her job well along side it there is really no problem when political prejudice is left to th side.

Oh please - those VTs are heavily edited. They pick one or two sentences out of 7 weeks training to make a point - leading to her being shown in the Lords apparently talking about childcare.

Don't judge her on that - unlike some of the other contestants she does have another job!

I like Oona - she is brave politician given what she had to deal with with Galloway's campaign in 2005. And she nearly became Mayor of London - had Labour had the sense to pick her instead of Ken she might well have beaten Boris.

Stop being so naive, Ii mean really you think she just tured up and then said i got to go in like 10 mins. Get real if was a case of her only having around 10 mins she wouldnt have even tured up and just rang in to say she couldnt make it.

As for it ranking you oh dear there is a lot more worse things to be ranked over you know.

Got to agree with that!

When Vince Cable did the Strictly Xmas Special he was criticised for doing it by FMs who thought he should be working 24/7 and shouldn't be allowed time out to do something he enjoys (he was already a keen ballroom dancer even before he did the Strictly Xmas Special), despite the fact that a one-off appearance was a much lesser commitment. And now Oona's being criticised for being responsible enough to make sure she continues her day job while doing DOI?

The producers will have known that Oona would have to balance her commitments to her day job with doing DOI. If they're ok with it and she thinks she can manage both, then what's the problem? Besides, she's not the first person to have continued with her regular job while doing DOI or Strictly and she won't be the last. Just because she had to rush off on one occasion, doesn't necessarily mean that she won't have made up the hours later - after all, she did well last night.

Galloway got voted in on an extreme platform in a place where the voting demographic is pretty extreme. I hardly think it should be considered representative of the majority of the British public's voting habits, especially when the GBP were smart enough to force Evil Dorries into every Bushtucker Trial in sight before dumping her at the first opportunity

Oona seems like a very nice and down-to-earth lady - not fond of the sound of her own voice like so many politicians, and actually fairly competent on the ice as well (delighted for Mark that he's finally got an older lady who isn't a waste of space on skates). Also, Mr LL once chatted Oona up and apparently she was nice about it and didn't tell him to F off as would've been her right

I really liked Oona - thought she did a great job for week one. I have no problem with her working either - she sits every day in the HoL (a fair few of her fellow peers don't) & is also a mum of 3, 1 of whom is 15 months old - credit to her.

As for the 'got to go' comment, she could have been at the rink for a long time, waiting for choreography, so I personally am not bothered by it - editing of the programme doesn't allow for explanations of situations. Really pleased for Mark - he's got an older lady with a lot of potential at last!!