i love the british parliment

[mopinko]

i have said it before, i will say it again- how did we miss importing this attitude?

listen to this-

http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/20040121.shtml .

WMD postscript (2:00)

[billyskank]

1. That sounded pretty reserved for PMQs

Must have been because Charles Kennedy was asking the questions. I bet it heated up once Michael Howard started asking.

[Avonrepus]

2. it was pretty heated i watched it live

As I do politics degree I thought I should make the effort. It got pretty heated as per when Howard got to ask his questions ( i think its 7 per session) they kept talking about tuition fees/ breaking election manifestos etc. The speaker told off Dennis Skinner ( very left wing Labour MP nicknamed the Beast of Bolsover by our wonderful tabloids) for getting too excited lol.

Anyone ever been to the House of Commons? i went once, its tiny and yet is meant to hold 659 MPs.

[newyawker99]

3. Hi Avonrepus!!

Welcome to DU!!

[Avonrepus]

4. Thanks

Nice to be here, gives me something to do

[T_i_B]

5. I thinkthat was deliberate

When they needed to repair the damage done by the luftwaffe Churchill decided that it should be small he didn't want to feel all that lonely when there were only few people in the house debating.

I think that's the case. Something like that anyway.

[Avonrepus]

6. i think he wanted it rebuilt exactly the same as it was before it was hit

The house of commons got hit and destroyed, so for the duration of the war and some time afterwards the HOuse of Lords was used as a debating room for both houses. IT was rebuilt to the old specifications after the War (the majority of the Parliament building having been built in the 1840s) , but as the number of MPs increases every few years it has become more and more over crowded, at PM questions alot of MPs can be seen standing.

However alot of the time there are very few people in there, apart from Pm questions and 3 line votes (ie v important ones) it never really fills up.

[Avonrepus]

7. it may sound heated

But unlike the US where a strong seperation of powers, held in place by a Codified constitution, meaning that overall power rests in no one tier, executive, legislative or judicial, The UK has no codified constitution and so no major seperation of powers, the executive therefore can dominate. Unlike the SOTU, almost all of the legislation proposed by the PM in the Queen's speech is passed and the Lord Chancellor can sit in the Cabinet, House of Commons and House of Lords.

Also due to the history of party loyalty, something that is far less aparent in the US, a PM with a large majority in the house of COmmons can again pass even the most controversial law, for example the banning of the GLC by Thatcher and the passing of the Poll tax, and more recently under Blair, the proposals for Foundation Hospitals.

Anyway, whilst PM Qus appears to make it look as though BLair has a lot of problems, domestically he is VERY powerful, a bit of a shame really.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. But can the British Parliament top this?

"Opposition Liberal Party shining star (Yuko) Mori was embroiled in an all-in donnybrook that started because the ruling Liberal Democratic Party wanted to ramrod through the Upper House a bill that pledged Japanese support to the recovery effort in Iraq.

"Mori showed no fear as she took on the LDP's Atsushi Onita, who still engages in the occasional professional wrestling bout, clobbering him several times and pulling his hair even as her skirt was rising up toward her hips.

"Even when somebody within the clutter reached out and viciously squeezed her breasts, Mori refused to give in, smashing the perpetrator to the face with a powerful right before slamming her knees into his chest.

"Some people within the LDP were still opposed to that bill going through, yet they were trying to pass it without discussion. There was no way I was going to let that happen. I just threw myself into the fray and did whatever I could to stop them from passing the bill. Before I knew it, I'd ended up like I was in the photo," Mori tells (weekly magazine) Flash. "

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/face/0308/07brawl.html

[Avonrepus]

9. LOL

Now thats impressive, and strangly arousing LOL!

This was the highlight of the 2001 election in the UK, the article is amusing too:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,493108,0...

Just think whilst Blair was having his heart shocked back into rhythm Prescott was PM of the UK for 20minutes