Speaker of the House of Commons

[Tsalagi]

I find John Bercow to be an admirable choice as Speaker. He has the desire to modernise the office in his dress. He meets the rowdiness of the back benchers with humor and patience. I wish we could have this sort of direction in the House and Senate over here!

:chief:

[cartooner]

I find John Bercow to be an admirable choice as Speaker. He has the desire to modernise the office in his dress. He meets the rowdiness of the back benchers with humor and patience. I wish we could have this sort of direction in the House and Senate over here!

:chief:

Agree, here we put party politics above what is good for the USA.

It seems like forever that Washington has been gridlocked by partisan bickering.

[Geoff_The_Beard]

John Bercow is better than most people expected. He's hated by the Tories (he was formerly a Tory MP), but it looks like they won't be able to get rid of him. He's done quite well, but nothing like as well as Betty Boothroyd did a few years back. A former Labour MP, she wouldn't let anyone, including the Prime Minister, speak unless she allowed that! We have a long history of Speakers who ARE truly independent, despite their former loyalties.

[cartooner]

Do you have a lot of partisan bickering Geoff. Like here the Democrats and republicans in my opinion worry more about who's party will win then what is best for the country.

John Bercow is better than most people expected. He's hated by the Tories (he was formerly a Tory MP), but it looks like they won't be able to get rid of him. He's done quite well, but nothing like as well as Betty Boothroyd did a few years back. A former Labour MP, she wouldn't let anyone, including the Prime Minister, speak unless she allowed that! We have a long history of Speakers who ARE truly independent, despite their former loyalties.

[Sylvie]

Lucky you! In Canada, the Speaker is usually chosen because of his/her inability to stay awake during a debate.

[Geoff_The_Beard]

Do you have a lot of partisan bickering Geoff. Like here the Democrats and republicans in my opinion worry more about who's party will win then what is best for the country.

In general, the Speaker IS accepted. There have been some difficult exchanges. Although elected from a party MP, the Speaker is expected to be totally independent. Most have achieved that, though some have been better than others! When the Speaker calls "Order", everyone HAS to keep quiet. It doesn't work perfectly, but in general it works well. Nobody is allowed to speak until the Speaker calls them, and those who merely want to create mischief won't get called.

Because the Speaker is supposedly independent, there is a convention that none of the major parties will put up a candidate against in a general election. This year, we did have a high profile idiot who DID stand, but he lost his deposit :D

[Tsalagi]

From watching the P.M.'s Question Time, there is constant bickering between the Labour, Conservative, and Lib. Dem leaders. But it is open debate, nobody filibusters, and there is ample laughter, hooting to scorn, and the other elements directed at "my right honorable opponent". Far more fun than watching the Senate on C-Span.

:chief:

[cartooner]

In general, the Speaker IS accepted. There have been some difficult exchanges. Although elected from a party MP, the Speaker is expected to be totally independent. Most have achieved that, though some have been better than others! When the Speaker calls "Order", everyone HAS to keep quiet. It doesn't work perfectly, but in general it works well. Nobody is allowed to speak until the Speaker calls them, and those who merely want to create mischief won't get called.

Because the Speaker is supposedly independent, there is a convention that none of the major parties will put up a candidate against in a general election. This year, we did have a high profile idiot who DID stand, but he lost his deposit :D

Gosh, that really is interesting. Sounds a lot better then the way we do things here.

I really enjoy learning new things. I know very little about British government and really like this.

[cartooner]

From watching the P.M.'s Question Time, there is constant bickering between the Labour, Conservative, and Lib. Dem leaders. But it is open debate, nobody filibusters, and there is ample laughter, hooting to scorn, and the other elements directed at "my right honorable opponent". Far more fun than watching the Senate on C-Span.

:chief:


Where did we get to where we are today T, i mean with the parties more worried about their own then the American people. Or am I way off on that. I am sure there are many in politics who do care. But lately I see some of the decent ones like David Obey from here in Wisconsin retiring because they are tired of the partisan bickeering. It makes a person wonder how bad is it if these guys say enough.

[Geoff_The_Beard]

I'm not trying to say that everything works well! Most of the time, the Government controls what is on the agenda, and most of the time the debate is wasted, because the voting is on a "three line whip", whereby any member of that party who doesn't vote as requested gets disowned.

A very interesting example of a policy which is publicly disliked which may well get through is the proposed change to the rule to dissolve Parliament. Since inception, a simple majority can vote the Government down in a vote of "no confidence", and force a General Election. It's now been proposed that it will in future require a 55% majority - curiously the size of the current coalition.

If that coalition fails and a simple majority say "NO" I can't see any justification for that remnant of a Government to stay in power. Hopefully, enough MPs will agree with me, so that proposition will fail. Some MPs DO vote on their own conviction, rather than what they are told by the whips.

[Tsalagi]

Where did we get to where we are today T, i mean with the parties more worried about their own then the American people. Or am I way off on that. I am sure there are many in politics who do care. But lately I see some of the decent ones like David Obey from here in Wisconsin retiring because they are tired of the partisan bickeering. It makes a person wonder how bad is it if these guys say enough.

I believe that it came with the Presidency of Bill Clinton, and the exodus of G.W.H. Bush after one term. The press was already changing from protecting the President's image (a la Kennedy) to trashing the President (a la Johnson-Vietnam, and Nixon-Watergate).

They we got talk radio, where the clowns took over (Beck admits he's a clown).They could say anything they wanted on the microphone and whip up their "ditto-heads" into a frenzy.

Campaign finance laws changed and a Representative had to start the rubber chicken and frozen pea circuit a week after being sworn in to have the cash for the next election. UNTIL the lobbyists developed the muscle to buy and sell Congressmen wholesale.

Then came Phyllis Schlafley, Pat Robertson, and the Moral Majority to make us believe that Jesus Christ handwrote the Constitution on orders from his pappy! And now we have the crazies like Orly Taitz, Dentist, real estate broker and lawyer rolled up into one, who started the Birther Movement (not the Octomom) with Photoshopped birth certificates to convince us that the President wasn't an American citizen by birth, even though the state of Hawaii says he is.

I don't bash the Tea Baggers as a group, since they are too dense to know what teabagging is), but I do indict the slobbering, wife-beater shirt wearing, agitators who take over the peaceful demonstrations and turn them into potential riots. It worked for Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini. Hopefully it won't work here. Or we won't have to worry about a half-white President that is trying to help the poor. We will be goose-stepping to the beat of a real demagogue, after the likes of Obey and others like him quit in disgust.

When the Right won't meet with the Left to find the Center and the solution, society will collapse and the vicious will rule the earth.

:chief: :peace: