Teaching Comparative

Another textbook supplement

If you'd like a good journalistic description of the House of Commons and Prime Minister's Question Time, check out this New York Times article while it's available online. It's a good supplement to what your textbook says about Commons.

What’s Mannerly, Rowdy and Jabs Blair? Question Time

"The rules governing the ritual known as prime minister’s questions, the weekly parliamentary contest between the government and the opposition, are fairly clear. Ask a question; do not make a speech. Do not address other legislators as “you” (or “Yo!”). Instead, call them 'the honorable gentleman' or 'the honorable lady.'...

"Unlike the collegially constructed national legislatures in places like the United States, where everyone sits in a convivial semicircle, the House of Commons was built to be adversarial, with legislators glaring directly at one another across a narrow divide. Their benches — they do not have individual seats — are placed the length of two swords apart, which in times past was enough to prevent outbreaks of physical violence.

"During prime minister’s questions, the goal is to score points any other way you can, including witty one-liners, withering putdowns, low-blow ad hominem remarks, muttered asides and the enthusiastic verbal pummeling of anyone who falters...

"Like the feral schoolboys in Lord of the Flies, members of Parliament are quick to pounce on weakness. When in the heat of the moment Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once reverted to her humble roots and used the regional word 'frit' in place of 'frightened,' the Labor Party never let her forget it, shouting 'Frit! Frit!' at delicate parliamentary moments for years afterward.

"More recently, when Mr. Blair said that 'what we need is more antisocial behavior' (he meant antisocialbehavior legislation), the Tories practically fell off their benches with laughter...


"Last Wednesday, in the last question session before Parliament’s summer recess, a noisy recklessness prevailed. In a snide reference to the cowboy outfit [Blair's deputy leader] Mr. Prescott [pictured at left] recently admitted accepting from an American millionaire who hopes to build a casino in London, the Tories greeted him with snide cries of 'Howdy!'

"Not that Labor remained silent. After one too many insults, Mr. Prescott — sitting next to the prime minister like Humpty Dumpty, his face screwed up in a permanent scowl — called one of his tormenters an idiot..."

posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:16 AM