Parliament

[* ORM *]

Seeing the behaviour of MP's in question time today I felt embarrassed to be English. What the **** are we paying all these pr!icks for ? Certainly not to sit there point scoring and playing ner-nicky-ner-ner surely ? How the hell does this look to outsiders ?

Could our overseas correspondents tell us whether their local parliaments are run along the same lines or have they all grown out of nappies and prefer not to work in a nursery. .

 

[Mad Cyril]

I was hoping this would be a thread about the Funk band Parliament.

Shrimperzone is so white bread these days.

 

[SARF]

The commons is much more fun than the rubbish you get abroad.. All those suits sitting in a horse shoe pressing buttons to vote..ZZZ
Where else can you get a proper scrap in a room where the benches are just far enough apart to stop the combatants being able to run each other through with a sword.. and the speaker is at his wits end trying to keep it under control.. i would imagine abroad, despite being average standard its compulsory viewing.. (much like the Premiership!)

 

[loz]

I was hoping this would be a thread about the Funk band Parliament.

Shrimperzone is so white bread these days.

get back to the Mothership, you..

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

The commons is much more fun than the rubbish you get abroad.. All those suits sitting in a horse shoe pressing buttons to vote..ZZZ
Where else can you get a proper scrap in a room where the benches are just far enough apart to stop the combatants being able to run each other through with a sword.. and the speaker is at his wits end trying to keep it under control.. i would imagine abroad, despite being average standard its compulsory viewing.. (much like the Premiership!)

I'm sure if you have a look on youtube you can find some footage of fights in foreign parliaments. I seem to recall a good scrap in the Italian parliament a couple of years back after a dodgy penalty decision in a Juventus game. I think there was also a fight in one of the Asian ones involving flying drop-kicks. Good stuff.

I'm surprised its ORM raising this as I didn't have him down as a "moderniser", seeking to sweep away well-established traditions. Next he'll be advocating giving women the vote!

I'm a big fan of Parliament. PMQT is great theatre, though it is one of the slightly more recent innovations (1950s?) and even if there are now too many questions along the lines of "does the PM agree that he's doing a wonderful job?". I believe one of the great strengths of our democracy is its longevity. Our system has slowly evolved, which gives it the stability and plenty of precedent to call upon. I'd therefore be reluctant to start making unnecessary changes as you start to weaken the conventions that bind our democracy together.

 

[SARF]

True you do get the odd scrap abroad, but generally they are as you mention the typical flying drop then then run for cover, not toe to toe fisticuffs with some proper slipper when some one hits the deck.. Though that Spanish? one where the shooters came out was good T.V. especially as one M.P. just sat there refusing to move while all the rest cowered on the floor..