Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

Will Howells’ take on that weekly monstrosity, Prime Minister’s Questions:

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As seen in last Wednesday’s Hansard (Parliament’s official record):
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to conduct exit interviews with Ministers leaving Government; and if he will conduct an exit interview with Lord Jones of Birmingham to discuss the noble Lord’s experiences as a Minister. [249500]
The Prime [...]

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I’ve penned three articles for February’s Total Politics, out this week. Here are the links so you can read them if you’re into that kind of thing:

A review of the Nokia E71 (I like it)
Top ten examples of unparliamentary language (Dennis Skinner deserves an award for rudeness)
Political couples (pass the sick bag)

In [...]

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Sent to my MP, Rudi Vis, today:
Dear Mr Vis,
On Thursday 22nd January the Commons will vote on the draft Freedom of Information (Parliament) Order 2009. If enacted, the measure will exclude MPs’ and Lords’ from disclosing fully their parliamentary expenses.
I urge you, in the interests of transparency and accountability, as well as to maintain public [...]

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In a startling change to centuries of tradition, the doors to the House of Commons will not be slammed shut when Black Rod approaches the chamber this morning.
Instead, to mark the subservience of the legislature to the Crown, Black Rod will walk straight into the House of Commons unimpeded and accompanied by a phalanx of [...]

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Inspired by real events:
Fun should be banned and cinemas and theatres stopped from providing entertainment in order to combat fun-fuelled disorder, MPs have said.
The Home Affairs select committee said reckless merriment was placing a heavy burden on police resources, with revellers enjoying themselves for up to 16 hours a day.
One possible solution for England and [...]

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The House of Lords is due to vote today on whether to retain the government’s 42 day detention without charge provision, contained in the Counter-Terrorism bill. Thankfully, the government will likely lose, as they can’t offer peerages to peers.
To mark the occasion, Amnesty UK have released this video:

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I’ve been tagged to come up with the best waste of £200,000 of taxpayers’ money* by Matt Wardman. I think it’s going to have to be a donation to Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, Paul Burstow, and his office, to stop him stealing claiming communications expenses he shouldn’t.
The greedy pig has been using prepaid Commons envelopes [...]

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Food-deprived lardarse Gordon Brown has a bit of a problem when it comes to the 42 days detention vote in the House of Lords: he can’t offer them a peerage and the overwhelming majority of lords aren’t too keen on the idea. So look out for the following constitutional reforms from our dynamic, overladen Prime [...]

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It appears bloggers (including myself) may have jumped the gun in stating that Part 6 of the Constitutional Renewal Bill grants the same powers to the executive as the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. From the Save Parliament blog:
The scary-looking provisions in the Constitutional Renewal Bill don’t let ministers make arbitary law, they just [...]

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