The UK Parliament Site

July 30, 2002 6:37 AM

The UK Parliament Site gets a new design, with live webcasting. They want it better to serve "grazers" as well as "hunters". For comparison, the US House and Senate, and the French Assembly and Senate.
posted by liam (14 comments total)

Well it's not exactly validating not is it totally accessible but it's a bit better than what was there before. Oh and we've had live webcasting for a few months already, it just wasn't linked on the main Parliament page.

And as is traditional with UK Govt. sites they run on the exciting IIS, there's somewhere that they could keep their pledge to use more Open Source quite easily. I'd like to see their 'best value' accounting on that choice. [p.s. I can understand exactly the reasons why they did it, i'd just prefer that they hadn't]

So two cheers.
posted by nedrichards at 7:04 AM on July 30, 2002

As a House of Commons junkie, I thank you. There really isn't another one as lively and exotic, thanks to all the constituency bumf and the lack of procedural guff, compared to the rules-obsessed and excessively formal French-inspired counterparts. Now off to read those riveting "Deferred Divisions"...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:27 AM on July 30, 2002

Question Period is a guilty pleasure for me... but everyone thinks I'm nuts.
posted by Marquis at 7:45 AM on July 30, 2002

I would love to see the Question Period make its way over the pond for two reasons:

1) Re-enforce just how incapable Bush is. He couldn't handle it without copious amounts of avoiding the question or Ashcroftian "only terrorist-supporters question my policies" bombast. Sunday morning shows like "Meet the Press" just doesn't have that same spotlight effect that a Senate cross-examination would.

2) To an idealist like myself, a Question Period involving the President and his Cabinet would be a great way of forcing the Executive Branch to listen to (hopefully) valid criticisms and respond with reason. However, that's probably very wishful thinking.

That being said, the US House website is stuck in the Newt era, with the Senate site being a little, but not much, better.
posted by thewittyname at 8:03 AM on July 30, 2002

'Question Period'? Is that like 'Question Time', but only once a month?

(sorry, cheap dig, I know.)
posted by riviera at 8:22 AM on July 30, 2002

Yes and they pay tribute to the menarch rather than the monarch.

(couldn't resist either, Marquis!) ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:00 AM on July 30, 2002

If you're talking about Prime Minister's Question Time thewittyname then I think you'd be disappointed. All the questions are known in advance and a team of minions dig up the appropriate responses and back-up info. Apparently Blair hates it and thinks it's just a pantomime, hence the move to 'meet the press' type sessions. Well he would think that I suppose.
posted by Summer at 9:02 AM on July 30, 2002

Plus, they've getting a curry house. The UK rawks.
posted by haqspan at 9:11 AM on July 30, 2002

Summer...I thought as much. The whole idea struck me initially as a very good idea that doesn't translate into reality very well. Kind of like Communism and Spam that way.
posted by thewittyname at 9:13 AM on July 30, 2002

haqspan: We groove actually ;-)
posted by i_cola at 9:37 AM on July 30, 2002

Thanks for the derision and scorn, gents, but I was referring to the Canadian Question Period, not to some fantastical misnomer of my own imagining.

Humph.
posted by Marquis at 9:43 AM on July 30, 2002

Hey, Marquis - next time post a WARNING, will ya? Who is that bitter, reproachful dwarf holding his gnarly knees in his hands? ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:58 AM on July 30, 2002

:) Um. Maybe him?
posted by Marquis at 10:28 AM on July 30, 2002

All the questions are known in advance and a team of minions dig up the appropriate responses and back-up info.

This is not true. All the questions are not known in advance although you do get despicable Labour back bench stooges, toadies etc asking trivial questions and maybe the occasional Alastair Campbell-orchestrated plant.
posted by Dan Brilliant at 6:57 AM on July 31, 2002