General Chat

Considered & Intelligent debating returns to The House of Commons and I think all our political parties could learn lessons on behaviour from these young people ;-)

Members of the UK Youth Parliament are taking part in a House of Commons debate, chaired by Speaker John Bercow.

The 11 to 18-year-olds are debating and voting on five issues chosen by a ballot of 876,488 young people across the UK.

The event, in which 285 take part, marks the start of Parliament Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness about politics and democracy in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30041158

Youngsters have great optimism until it withers gradually with old age & life experiences. In addition, traditions get diluted through time & assimilation.

I'd like to be young again!

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was a reference to these boards. :-D
If only... ;-)

:-D :-D :-D

John Bercow and intelligent debating? RU serious?

The trouble with young people's debates is - inevitably - they are naive and idealistic with not a thought of the vast effort needed to get anything done at all.

Voting at 16 is plain daft yet Milliband has it listed as Labour policy.

A party for all seasons ?

The death-on-the-vine of local government democracy and the rapidly sinking interest in classic big party politics suggests that Mr Bercow is wasting his time. You only have to see the growing frustration on the face of Cameron and the lack of confidence on the face of Milliband to see that they realise this but have no answers.

Young people wanting to get into politics will have far more chance to make a difference with an NGO than with any political party.

Empty space is of course soon occupied hence the rise of UKIP. They have plenty of chutzpa and answers only they are to the wrong questions.

If the 'audience' can sit quietly rather than cat-call and ya-boo while someone else is speaking, surely that's an improvement?

I was merely making the comparison that when I watch the Youth Parliament debates, their behaviour in debates was vastly different from the behaviour of MP's during their debates - I was not seeking a debate on John Bercow :-S

The House of Commons has always been wild and unruly going all the way back to 1066. Why do you object to that ?

fwiw the Oxford Union where many of our politicians get started is little better.

British politics and law are built on the adversarial principle not the sort of fudge which passes as politics in most of Europe. The Borgen tv series was a good insight. Over the whole long series the program makers never once thought to have an actual voter written into the script!

Barristers in court are not given much time or space in the clash between two sides neither are front bench politicians.

Long, long experience has shown that a UK minister who cannot carry an argument against the howling mob of the opposition and sometimes his own back benchers cannot and will not deserve to succeed.

The detailed quiet stuff is done by select committees not on the floor of the house.

If you are lucky enough to get a ticket to the Strangers' gallery for an important debate you will get a much better idea of how the Commons works than from a few minutes of Question Time on TV news.

However power is sliding away from Westminster and it shows ... the quality of debate, the mediocrity of the speakers and even the subjects for debate.

There are no Dennis Skinners, Robin Cooks, Nigel Lawsons or Margaret Thatchers in today's commons just dwarves. When there are important things to debate such as HS2 or EU referendum the executive does its best to deny and suppress debate in the House. The real debate goes on elsewhere. No wonder interest is falling away.

Conning young people that the Commons is where the action is will just make them cynical sooner than ever.

Where dissenting arguments arise, they are often met with deaf ears including mine when I switch-off PMQs.

Thanks Rollo - apart from waht I studied at college and my involvement at a local level with national politics for several years and having watched debates in both houses when I visited the House of Commons a few times at the invitation MP's I knew quite well and also the House of Lords several times at the invitation of a very good friend of mine - I have a good understanding of how things work.