Jump to content

Recommended Posts

To follow comments made by David Carnell, Hugenot and Brendan on the Jacqui Smith thread Jaqui Smith thread - political restructuring


DC - I agree your points. There is a difficult balance to be struck.


This is worth a wider debate - hence new thread - on how Parliament (both houses) could be restructured to improve calibre of occupants, quality of their work (scrutiny of legislation / representation of constituents / representation of ills to be righted ect).


As a starter for 10 propose:


1. Reduce the number of MPs

2. Make constituencies more "recognisable" as a community rather than a manipulated sector. (A particularly poor example is South Hertfordshire (I think that's it's tile) - over 20 miles long it is, in parts, just 1 milw wide and can hardly be a genuine community.

3. Change the salary structure so that work is rewarded - so a committee chairman /member receives additional pay.

The most useful peculiarity of the British Parliament is the House of Lords. One that isn?t used for that public good as it could be. Mostly because the MPs from both Labour and the Conservatives do not have the public good on their agenda and have therefore been trying to destroy the House of Lords for years.


Here?s what I would do with regards the House of Lords:


? Get rid of all appointed and heredity peers

? Install a system whereby peers are first nominated on merit by, industry bodies, the judiciary, academia, and such and then elected by their industries.

? Make it illegal for peers to be politically affiliated in any way.

? Make any attempt to influence the House of Lords politically an act of high treason.

? Fully reinstate all powers for the Lords to reject legislation.


Then I would address the House of Commons thusly and in the words of Queenie of Blackadder fame: First I am going to have a little drinky and then I?m going to execute the whole bally lot of you.


I will then implement your suggestions for proper political representation.

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Am I being thick? Point 2. seems to contradict

> point 1.



No - fewer MP's means fewer constituencies, but I want the constituencies that are represented to be more meaningful. Why not just Southwark rather than having H Harman & T JOwell representing us.

Fewer MPs with better support to handle constituency matters will, I believe, attract a higher calibre of representative who would be able to achieve more and crucially should make for better debate. Far too many of the current house are simply drones and lobby fodder.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • I've used just about all the locally available supermarkets for deliveries over the years, and I now  use Waitrose for deliveries, for various reasons. They have a good range of the things I eat, their food is good quality and their "essentials" range is generally good value (except the tissues, which suddenly became so thin as to disintegrate immediately. I was mainly buying them for the nice plain boxes, so now I just put other tissues into the old Waitrose boxes 🤣) It is very rare for something I've ordered to not be available on the day. Their delivery drivers  are genuinely friendly and helpful. Their customer service is very good. On the rare occasions I've had issues, they have refunded me without quibbling. They often have special deals on some of the things I buy often, so I stock up when they are cheaper. I do occasionally compare prices with other supermarkets, and overall I really don't think Waitrose is more expensive, but obviously they might be for things I don't personally buy. I absolutely hate Sainsbury's, would use Lidl for some things but they don't deliver, Iceland has a very small range of things I eat, and I can't remember why I don't use Tesco or Asda any more. I recently checked out Ocado because there was some offer which seemed good value, but they just didn't have enough things I wanted to buy to make it worth using the offer. M&S don't deliver ( to the best of my knowledge) but in any case they seem to be still badly suffering from the recent hack into their system. Apologies, I have just remembered this thread is about shopping at actual physical stores, but probably many of the issues are the same.
    • Since I am of a certain vintage now, not sure if what I am going to suggest is even still around but here goes… use to be able to buy “dummy/mock papers on line and also had mini synopsis of Shakespeare plays specifically covering students wanting to gain a better understanding of play before taking mocks/ exams. Only know this as many many moons ago, struggled with English Literature and Language and this was the avenue-my parents went down. Also was at this point in my life, educated abroad as part of my fathers job.  
    • Love your comment about “shoehorned” - put a smile on my face..! As for comment about “Little Waitrose” ummmm - never really thought about it. Personally, could not care less. But guess Sainsbury Local and Tesco Express are to you more acceptable.. Ultimately, when I think about it, I actually don’t care what they call themselves - been lured by partially branding and partially convenience and what they offer in groceries.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...