True Scotsman
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MP's & their behaviourI know this is a silly question but what is your view on the behaviour of some MP's ,especially at Prime Minister's Questions, in the House of Commons. Such as the laughing, Booing etc.
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FREEDOM FOR SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!
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SLG
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It's a legitimate question. I think most folk have concerns when they see MPs acting in such a way. I think Westminster is too established and traditional an environment to change though. We were meant to build a more consensual Parliament at Holyrood, but one of the major disappointments has been some debates and FMQs which seem to come close to replicating Westminster.
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Aventinian
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I think essentially it's natural - and makes the Commons more organic than some of the other legislatures in the world: the sorts where they'll cut off your microphone if you've spoken too long or regularly remove people and such. And no, I'm not just having a jibe at Strasbourg here.
I don't support it and there's some occasions where it does frustrate me, but I'm not going to jump on the overcritical bandwagon.
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macnumpty
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The problem is that politicians (especially in opposition) are in a no-win situation, especially under the 'new politics': if they oppose a Government proposal, they're seen as opposing it for opposition's sake, and are accused of being divisive. When they support proposals, then then they're accused of not offering anything different from the other parties.
That said, whatever they do, they could do it without acting like overgrown children or drunken louts.
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True Scotsman
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The behaviour at Westminister is terrible. Countries like Ireland & the United States watch Prime Minister's Questions & they think it's funny, mind you a lot of people in this country think's it's funny as well. In the United States I think it got a grammy for being one of the best comedies of all time, but I am not sure if that is true. But at least it isn't as bad as the parliaments in East Asia.
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FREEDOM FOR SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!
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Aventinian
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The parliaments in East Asia? I would've expected them to be very orderly about things.
I do think that essentially it is anarchic, but so is politics at the end of the day. I like to see my politicians getting angry or swinging maces - it at least shows that they care. And to think America would criticise - they have no such mechanism for holding their government to account and I imagine that PMQs is watched by more people than any debate in Congress ever is - and that's disregarding the enormous population difference.
I think a lot of people are guilty of thinking that PMQs is what the Commons is like all the time... far from it.
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True Scotsman
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The reason why I said the parliaments in East Asia, such as the Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, North & South Korean parliaments etc, because you sometimes hear about politicians punching each other. There was a photo on the 10th December 2005 in the Scotsman of politicians in the South Korean Parliament were fighting over a contreversial Bill on South Korean private schools.
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FREEDOM FOR SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!
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