Parliamentary Reform

Last Thursday I attended a "Parliament Week" event at the Guildhall. It was addressed by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow. Further speeches were made by Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield (Peter Hennessy, the historian); Lord Desai (Meghnad Desai, Economist) and Michael Cockerell (Journalist and Documentary Maker - The Great Offices of State; The Secret World of Whitehall).

Questions were taken (mine is at 59 mins 50 secs to 1 hr 00 mins 25 secs - I was deliberately provocative - but the point remains, the Lords is very limited in its ability to effectively challenge the Government of the Day).

 

The BBC Parliament broadcast can be accessed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0170435/

Parliament Week

This coming week will see a number of events to celebrate "Parliament Week" (I suspect that the dates were not chosen by accident - November 5th was, by order of Parliament in the 17th Century, to be kept as an annual day of "public thanksgiving to Almighty God...that unfeigned thankfulness may never be forgotten, and that all ages to come may yield praises to God's divine majesty for the same." It was on that day that Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up Parliament was thwarted in 1605).

Details of the events (which occur across the country) can be found at a special website - http://www.parliamentweek.org/

I hope to be attending a few of the events, both at Westminster and in Birmingham. Do drop me a line if you will be attending any of the events.