Thanks for reminding everybody when PMQ's starts. It is as well that everyone is reminded of this so they can watch and decide for themselves.
I for one would be hoping that PMQ's this week would show better behaviour given the gravity of events rather than the newly established derisory hectoring of Mr Corbyn that has shamed the house over the last few weeks.....
PMQs starts at 12pm on Weds. MPs would have to be pretty committed to alcohol to show up drunk...
I invite you to check the link to PMQ's on October 28th above, what else can you attribute that terrible behaviour to? If children were to act like that at school, they would be sent home at least for the day, if not, excluded for a period!
Pay particular reference to the speakers tone at one point when he says that if the session has to take longer for the questions to be heard 'so be it.' Sounds like a teacher chastising children in a classroom. It's a disgrace!
It's the late votes that are the issue. Although in reality, the party whips are there to ensure MPs vote as they are told (their votes are not 'free choice'), so as long as someone shepards them through the appropriate lobby, they can be pissed as a fart and it not make much difference. And there are many more sober MPs who don't know what issue they are voting on - they're just doing what they're told by the Whip and toeing the party line.
Absolutely agree, we are supposed to live in a democracy and the idea of a debating chamber is that our elected officials go there to hear reasoned argument and debate and then make a reasoned decision on the best researched and well argued points. This is not possible with a whip system and the likelihood of any reasoned points being heard is all but vanquished with only a drop or two of alcohol on top.
As for the number of bars, Parliament makes a lot of money off the bars and restaurants on site as it's not just MPs who use them. As a member of the public, you can go and have a champagne afternoon tea there during the summer. And goodness knows, with the monumental amount of money needed for repair of the building, it needs as much of an independent revenue stream as it can muster at the moment.
The revenue the bars generate is not a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed to renovate the building, however, lets market the bars and get more of the public in so they can see what goes on inside, generate more revenue and at the same time ban MP's from taking part in debates and voting if they have been drinking alcohol in a bar before.
Do I think MPs should be drinking during working hours? No. But the majority of them are not drinking themselves stupid - they're having a glass of wine with dinner on the evenings they have to be at work until 10pm to vote. I don't find that too objectionable even if I find the majority of MPs so.
It doesn't matter if a majority aren't drinking themselves stupid, lets once again refer to the link of PMQ's above and it seems pretty clear that a sizable majority are abusing the position of trust in this way. Granted, the front benches look pretty healthy these days and I would go so far as saying my local MP doesn't behave in this way and does a good job for his constituents, whether I agree with his politics or not. But the braying and hectoring isn't coming from the front bench. A good look at the eyes and the statures of those on the back benches will give you at least a half reasonable guide as to who is irresponsible and making bad personal choices as to what they put in their bodies whilst at work (and before and after!)
As you say, Charles Kennedy was an alcoholic, so let's leave him out of this one.
One further point, if a petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it is considered for debate. It isn't a given.
True enough, I'll give you that.
I'm not defending MPs for the sake of it - I think most of them are arseholes grin, but at the moment, with all that's happening with the refugees, with Paris, with Syria, with IS, I'd much rather parliamentary time was given to other issues.
This is a bit of a strawman argument, just to say there is other bad stuff going on in the world that we shouldn't do something to make our political system more sane and our MP's more accountable.
It is for the very reason that there are serious decisions to be made that we should make sure our MP's are as level headed as possible whilst making them. They should make decisions for the best of reasons and with the best of intentions, not because they are toeing the party line and are scared of the whip and certainly not because they are high on alcohol or drugs.