Following Westminster

If your interest lies in following what is done in the UK Parliament - this is my guide to useful resources -

As with Congress, original resources from Parliament are the best way to follow activities, without the filters that the media put on. [I am NOT criticising the Media - their job is to take the raw material to present it to the public in a manageable form, and to explain what is happening - and I am a BIG user of the media myself!]

The Parliamentary website is http://www.parliament.uk

A snapshot of forthcoming business can be found here. We are currently on a short recess.

As I suggested in my previous post on Congress, the best way to discover the vast amount of available information is to explore the website tab by tab. Parliamentary Business is subdivided into sections on each House (Commons : Lords) ; What's On; Bills & Legislation (from this and previous Parliaments); Committees, Publications and Records and ParliamentTV - which provides live feeds (and recordings) of proceedings in the Chambers and committees.

The Links that I find most useful to use are -

1 To see what is coming up.

Commons Business Papers - If you click on 'Summary Agenda and Order of Business' (I have not linked - as it changes for each specific sitting day) - you can select 'Order Paper' [as a PDF, my preferred option - or you can choose a webpage with links to the various parts]. The PDF gives a summary of business and approximate timings. On subsequent pages there is much more detail - such as the questions set down for Question Time; subjects and relevant motions for the main part of the day; and the subject of the daily adjournment debate. If Westminster Hall is being used - details of the debates there are listed. Committee meetings - their location and subject (and witnesses) are listed. Future business is also listed.

Lords Business Papers - Click on 'House of Lords Business'. Again there is a choice of a webpage or a PDF. The style is very different - and the key things to read are the text of the 4 oral questions; and Business of the House (for that date). Future business is also set out. Many a Washminster post has been planned as a result of reading through this document (green in the printed edition). This is followed by a list of motions - which may or not be taken (most will be balloted for). There are also notice of Questions for Written Answer - the answers will eventually appear in the Lords Hansard. (I also like the practice of shaming Government Departments who have failed to give a response within 10 working days - the list follows the Written Questions). Bills in Progress (and their type) are listed on a subsequent page. Secondary legislation in the pipeline is also listed. Details of upcoming committee meetings are set out - and 'Minutes of Proceedings' of the previous meeting of the House are recorded. Finally papers and secondary legislation published since the last edition of the Business papers are listed. Peers can collect them from an office near the chamber, but they are generally available to the rest of us on other websites. I will post about accessing these in a future post.

2 To read what has been said

Hansard is the record of what is said in the Chambers (and also Westminster Hall [Commons] and the Moses Room [Committee stages of bills held out of the Lords Chamber]).

A useful gateway to Hansard is available at https://hansard.parliament.uk

3 To watch the Chamber or committees

ParliamentTV  or view BBC Parliament - on TV or via the  website

4 To follow the work of the Select Committees

Each committee has its own website - access through http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/



The BBC gives excellent coverage of Parliament - particularly through 'Today in Parliament' - and also through The Week in Westminster and the Westminster Hour on the radio. BBC Parliament is a mini-C-SPAN for the UK.

Watching the House of Commons

Yesterday I enjoyed the, sadly all too rare, opportunity of sitting in the public gallery of the Commons to watch a debate. The Education and Adoption Bill was having its Second Reading - and I could watch the Frontbench speeches followed by a succession of speeches from backbenchers - including a number of maiden speeches. It is good occasionally to watch a debate in the chamber - without the usual distractions. Normally when "watching a debate", I am multi-tasking - part listening to the debate; part reading something else - or writing; or carrying out some other task (downloading some material from the internet and so on). In the gallery one's full attention can be focussed on what is being said - and what is going on in the chamber. It's also good to be able to follow a debate over a number of hours! (Reading Hansard isn't quite the same)

I think that it is wonderful that we can now watch the live, un-interrupted  feed from the Chamber. In the past - and when I first visited the House of Commons in 1975 - that wasn't possible - only the written report or a summary on the news was possible. Now with the internet it is possible to watch the television coverage on BBC Parliament or a live stream on Parliamentlive.tv. Podcasts are available of Today in Parliament. But the limitations of TV cameras only give you part of the picture - and there is much of interest to observe outside the zone covered. The interactions and reactions off screen are important too.

Keeping an eye on Congress and Parliament

When I was younger - the only way to follow Parliament was through reports in newspapers or by buying Hansard. Radio, then TV broadcasting from the chambers, only arrived later. Live coverage from inside Congress came earlier - and the Watergate hearings were televised - but it remained difficult even in the early part of the 21st century to follow Congress.

However thanks to the internet, it's now easy to follow events in Congress; the British Parliament; the European Parliament; and the French Assemblee nationale.

C-SPAN came first, then we had the Parliamentary Channel. Now the websites offer not just live coverage from the chambers, but other programming about history and current affairs.

C-SPAN covers the House of Representatives when it is in session. C-SPAN 2 does the same for the Senate. When the Chambers are not sitting (which can be for the major part even of a sitting day, there are other programmes. C-SPAN 3 also covers external events. If you haven't already, it is worth exploring the C-SPAN website. You may never need to watch TV again. (This is my wife's worry with me). There is also C-SPAN Radio. I often listen to this during the night, or when cooking/washing up via the C-SPAN app on my iPad.

BBC Parliament is available online as well as via Freeview in the UK.  There is a wider "Democracy Live" website which includes live feeds form the House of Lords; Committees; and the legislatures in Scotland; Wales & Northern Ireland. There is also a section for the EU.

Europarl TV covers the European Parliament - and gives access to live debates as well as producing a number of excellent videos on specific issues.

The French Assemblee nationale is covered by LCP.

Heigh ho, Heigh ho, it's back to work we go...

 

All three major party conferences have been completed - and Parliament returns next week.

For details of what is on - go to http://services.parliament.uk/calendar/ & click on , selecting either the day or week you want to look at, and by clicking on the tabs which House, & which area of House work you want to look at.

For more detailed business go to -

House of Commons Business Papers - http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/

House of Lords Business Papers - http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/lords/

BBC Parliamentary broadcasts on Freeview and on Sky - and http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/bbc_parliament/ is worth exploring for rich variety of feeds and programmes.

Recall of Parliament

Today both Houses of Parliament have been recalled from recess to pay tribute to Baroness Thatcher. There have been 25 recalls of Parliament since 1948. Both Houses will meet at 14.30. If you wish to watch, BBC Parliament will be broadcasting (Channel 81 on Freeview and Channel 504 on Sky); and on the internet you can access both Houses at Parliamentlive.tv and democracylive.

The House of Commons Library has a short paper on the recall of Parliament. It is available here.

The BBC

There are many things to be proud of as a Brit - my top three would be The BBC, the NHS and the Magna Carta. Sadly the Magna Carta is more honoured in the USA than in Britain (even the monument in Runnymede was erected by the American Bar Association); the NHS is being shaken up to its - and our detriment; and the BBC is under attack.

The BBC is by far the best broadcaster in the UK. Many of its series and programmes are exported - and its news services are respected around the world.

The BBC is the largest broadcasting organisation in the world. Its mission is to enrich people's lives with programmes that inform, educate and entertain.

It is a public service broadcaster, established by a Royal Charter and funded by the licence fee that is paid by UK households.

There is a website giving more details of the BBC and how it is funded and run here.

As someone living in Milton Keynes I have access to a local radio station - BBC Three Counties; local news on TV via BBC Look East (western half); Terrestial and Digital radio and TV stations (my favourites are Radio 4, Radio 5, Radio 7, BBC1, BBC2, BBC Four,  and of course BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament. I use the BBC as a news source via my computer and my iPhone.

The Week Ahead

Two useful pdf documents -

The Week Ahead - from the House of Commons' 'Weekly Information Bulletin (although it summarises business for both chambers and committees of both Houses.) 'The Week Ahead' is usually around p6 of the online pdf.

The Weekly Leader - the week's business, provided by the office of the Leader of the House of Representatives.

The current TV schedule for C-SPAN is available here
BBC Parliamen't schedule is available here

Tours of Westminster

It is possible to tour the Palace of Westminster during the summer recess. Details of the tours can be found here. The Adult price is £11.70. As an alternative you can take a virtual tour. These are available at

http://www.parliament.uk/about/virtualtours.cfm

There are also some interesting materials on the Palace and its history and work at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/7098934.stm

Hustings

The Hansard Society organised a hustings in advance of next week's election (Monday 22nd June) of a new Speaker for the House of Commons. It was filmed by BBC Parliament and is due for broadcast on that channel at 9pm (UK time) on Sunday 21st. I'd recommend watching it. The hustings lasted for two hours, but it was both fascinating and encouraging.

The potential candidates who spoke, and then answered questions were

- Margaret Beckett MP

- Sir Alan Beith MP

- John Bercow MP

- Sir Patrick Cormack MP

- Parmjit Dhanda MP

- Sir Alan Haselhurst MP

- Sir Michael Lord MP

- Richard Shepherd MP

- Ann Widdecombe MP

- Sir George Young MP

The meeting was chaired by Peter Riddell , of the Times and Chairman of the Hansard Society. His first task was to draw lots to settle the order of speaking. Each candidate had up to five minutes to speech - and all kept within time. I am sure that there will be reports in the UK media - a colleague who sat next to me, and who has had a long involvement with Hansard Society events, observed that he had never seen so many representatives of the print and broadcast media in attendance at a Hansard Society function. The following are my own notes, and I make no claims about accuracy or representativeness.

Alan Beith was the first to speak. He regarded "maintaining effort to make parliament more effective" as a priority. He suggested that the House as a whole should occasionally sit outside Westminster. Parmjit Dhanda expressed the view that the public "don't want the language of Erskine May, but...plain, blunt English". He too advocated taking Parliament out to the country.

Richard Shepherd described himself as the "back to the future candidate". He spoke passionately of his view that Parliament once meant something. "It needs to again". He stressed that the House of Commons is NOT the government. Instead, it is made up of the representatives for the country. "The Commons' role is to moderate, influence and challenge government."

The personal qualities needed of a Speaker were stressed by Sir George Young - impartiality; authority; patience; humour; aquaintance with the rules; a basis of support from across the House; and leadership were mentioned.

Anne Widdecombe said "I'm pretty unique", pointing out that, amongst other unique qualities, she was only asking for interim authority. She will retire from Parliament at the General Election. As with other candidates she stressed the dual task of restoring the reputation of the House and shifting the balance from the Executive to Parliament.

John Bercow, the bookies favourite, said there were three challenges

1 to restore trust in politics

2 to put Parliament first

3 to be an ambassador - He, or she, must be "a robust advocate of democratic accountability - and a listener to the legitimate concerns of the public"

The final four, and this was an accident of chance, were more tradionally minded. Both Sir Alan Haselhurst and Sir Michael Lord have long experience in the Speakers Chair - currently the number 2 and 3 in the hierarchy. Sir Patrick Cormack is a House institution himself - being known for his knowledge of Commons history. Margaret Beckett has great ministerial experience and was a former Leader of the House. All acknowledged that changes were necessary but didn't display the passion for reform of some of the earlier speaking candidates.

It was well worth going - and I hope you'll be able to watch on Sunday. The Hansard Society allowed us to see both quality and hope for the future.

A BBC report with highlights is available now at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8099946.stm

Inauguration Day

For some time now it has been possible to buy countdown clocks - all running down to noon today, the moment when George W Bush's presidency comes to an end - along with 'Bush's Last Day' Stickers and calendars. There is even an Internet Countdown Clock - http://www.bbspot.com/news/2005/01/bush_countdown.html

But as John F Kennedy said -

"We observe today, not a victory of party, but a CELEBRATION OF FREEDOM,

symbolising an end, as well as a BEGINNING,

signifying RENEWAL as well as CHANGE"

There will be massive coverage around the world - I'll be watching the BBC Coverage (4pm - 6pm BBC1; BBC 24 thoroughout the day.) I've signed up to the facebook group - Obama Inauguration on CNN.com Live with Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=56799103571. I'll also be following some of the blogs listed on this page.

I should be live on BBC Northampton at approximately 7.20am (GMT) http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/local_radio/ and BBC Cambridgeshire http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/local_radio/ at about 5.15pm (GMT) - both have a live feed on their websites.

Enjoy the day.

First there was C-SPAN...

....then The Parliamentary Channel (now BBC Parliament). Now the European Parliament has an online TV service - called Europarl TV. Its website is http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/StartPage.aspx