Why should I and noble Lords trust the Executive to deal with mice when they cannot deal with the economy?

March 31, 2010 1:44 PM

Earlier this month, there was an entertaining debate in the House of Lords about pest control in the Palace of Westminister, where the Lords meet. via kottke.org

A sample:

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: I thank the noble Lord for his reply. How many calls have there been to the mouse helpline? Has the accuracy of that information been checked, given that the staff report seeing mice on a daily basis at the moment in the eating areas? Has consideration been given to having hypoallergenic cats on the estate, given the history? Miss Wilson, when she was a resident superintendent in this Palace, had a cat that apparently caught up to 60 mice a night. The corpses were then swept up in the morning.

posted by cider (13 comments total)

The trouble is that when the person at the other end of the [mouse] helpline goes to check this out, very often the mouse has gone elsewhere.

The kind of back and forth in that debate is why the equivalent of question time should be introduced for the US congress / senate... can you imagine some of the comedy that would result!
posted by mikw at 1:50 PM on March 31, 2010 [3 favorites]

If you were a mouse, you would rather eat the crumbs of a smoked salmon sandwich than the bait.

QFT
posted by inmediasres at 2:00 PM on March 31, 2010

"I do not know whether it was the same one that I saw the day before or a different one; it is always difficult to tell the difference between the various mice that one sees."

Totally mousist.
posted by tastybrains at 2:09 PM on March 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Lord Pilkington of Oxenford: Why should I and noble Lords trust the Executive to deal with mice when they cannot deal with the economy?

The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I do not actually deal with the economy. I am glad to say that that would be above my pay grade, whereas trying to deal with the mice is probably just about right for me.

Hilarious. :D
posted by zarq at 2:19 PM on March 31, 2010 [9 favorites]

If you thought Boehner screaming was fun, just wait till you introduce mice!
At first I thought they were talking about computer mice, and wondered what the problem was.
posted by msbutah at 2:39 PM on March 31, 2010

Old related problem in the House of Commons. This entertained me greatly at the time.
posted by Partario at 2:43 PM on March 31, 2010

You can watch video of the debate here (available for only a few more days, I think): http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5906
posted by simonw at 3:12 PM on March 31, 2010

It would be a tragedy for this beautiful Palace to burn down for lack of a cat.

This will be another piece of ammunition in my long battle to get a library cat.

I doubt my Dean will be swayed, but I must soldier on.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:05 PM on March 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Something like this happened in the U.S. House of Representatives recently.
Hint: not really, Onion link.
posted by JHarris at 6:58 PM on March 31, 2010

More!

There are a number of reasons why it is not a good idea to have cats. First, they would ingest mouse poison when eating poisoned mice, which would not be very nice for them, [...]

Noted, that would be bad.

[...] and there would be nothing to keep them where they are needed or stop them walking around the House on desks in offices or on tables in restaurants and bars-and maybe even in the Chamber itself.

Disagree, that would be excellent.
posted by JHarris at 7:02 PM on March 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

I really love this earnest discussion of ridiculous minutia, and most especially the dry response of the Chairman zarq quoted above about dealing with the mice being "just about right for me."
posted by onlyconnect at 8:09 PM on March 31, 2010

You could never have Parliamentary cats in any Australian Parliament. The rats sit on the benches.
</Australian joke>
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:55 PM on March 31, 2010

"Mouse helpline" made my day.
posted by moody cow at 1:33 AM on April 1, 2010