MetaFilter posts tagged with houseofcommons

"Number one, Mr. Speaker"

TimeTravelSpeed — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:48:32 -0800

Prime Minister's Questions is a weekly televised convention in the UK started in the 1950s during which Members of Parliament get a chance to hold their leader accountable for his or her actions. Sick of boring political meetings? "PMQ" is fast-paced, hip, heated, eloquent, insulting, and sometimes hilarious. In fact, the inherant humor of it is has been well explored.

But brits aren't the only ones; "Question Time", as it's called generically, has been adapted in other countries as well. Yet the show often shocks Americans since the concept of weekly unscripted access to leaders without giving days of question prep-time seems like a fantasy. Of course, maybe the alternative (0:41) is much worse.

BUSH PULLS OUT OF SPEECH TO PARLIAMENT

wsg — Mon, 17 Nov 2003 10:09:13 -0800

Bush pulls out of speech to Parliament during upcoming British trip. Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Francois Mitterand, have all given speeches to the Lords and the Commons while visiting Britain, but Bush is afraid of hecklers.

Statesman or Skatesman

feelinglistless — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 13:38:21 -0800

Statesman or Skatesman "Last Christmas my Dad and me had a big argument. He'd found a picture of Enoch Powell on a pogo stick and claimed that politicians weren't as interesting as that any more ... " Jason Whiley disagreed and wrote to as many politicians as he could asking them if they'd ever used similar transport, such as skateboards, gokarts, BMX bikes and Space Hoppers. Over Eighty responded including "three Prime Ministers, five Chancellors, six Foreign Secretaries, four Home Secretaries, and three Speakers of the House of Commons. " [via B3ta]

Blair a war criminal

lometogo — Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:25:08 -0800

Blair, the war criminal Tom Dalyell, a Labour MP with over 41 years of service in the House of Commons has voted with his Labour Party constitutency to call for Blair to reconsider his postion as party leader. He further states that he believes "[Blair] should be branded as a war criminal and sent to the Hague".