it does demonstrate that good questioning is a real skill (and is difficult!!), and not just about finding and asking a "killer question" (which don't really exist). I do think that some MPs think they just get good at it through osmosis, somehow
anyway, in my final few days at CfGS it behoves me to highlight that we offer high-quality questioning skills training to elected representatives, at reasonable rates!! www.cfgs.org.uk/our-offer/le...
Reminds me a bit of how the CMS Committee flailed around with their questioning of Rupert and James Murdoch
I say "on its own terms" because it goes without saying that a) the questions were generally bad and b) even if the questions had been good, they would have been asked about the wrong issues in the wrong way
interesting lessons arising from the Olly Robbins evidence in Parliament in that 1) it demonstrates the importance of Parliamentary scrutiny 2) it demonstrates that Parliamentary scrutiny is, surprisingly often, fairly dreadful on its own terms
No no - for example after producing "Citizen Kane 2", Orson Welles insisted that future showings of the original film should all feature a newly filmed mid credit sequence where Nick Fury invites Kane's sledge to team up with him to fight the Spanish-American War
oh god no, this is dreadful!
"Under my leadership we will be a Government that will go further than just not doing things that are bad." (dramatic pause) "In fact, Conference, I can pledge this to you now - we will instead do things that are *good*" (rapturous applause, shot of Liz Kendall nodding approvingly)
Only if it would reveal the feral underbelly beneath the superficial rationality of the postmodern urban landscape though tbh
"You flamin' galah!" Oh wait, that's the other one
I'll be honest, I preferred it when Seb's main contribution to public discourse was tweeting tasting notes on the subject of cakes that he had bought for his staffers when he ran his think tank
I do wonder whether people organising "Great Gatsby-themed" events have ever read the book, or even the brief synopsis on Wikipedia
big fan of "the Government has made an announcement that it will, by this time next year, make some minor changes to the rules around direct debits to make it slightly more difficult for companies to roll off existing subscribers onto more expensive agreements" being some kind of mitigation
It's not the same as (for example) being a constituent authority in a CA, where membership is conferred by the bespoke Order and where you could see a potential process for removal.
I mean, the existence of the London Boroughs is specified in primary legislation and there's no Article 50 for local government! Any change would need to be driven by the formal LGR process, and subject to a decision by the Sec of State. Not to mention the GLA implications
have they discovered a novel method by which individual London boroughs can unilaterally amend the London Government Act 1963? Exciting times!
as ever, some really choice gems in the body of the article itself. My personal favourite is, "Teresa says her way of packing is more “European.” She’s from Eastbourne (which, she says, is closer to Europe) and has an affinity for continental living" which is a fantastically withering putdown
... but ultimately I expect that councils affected will still need to prepare for a shift to the Leader-Cabinet system in May 2027 (5/ends)
But it's very difficult to say. There will be a delay in the Bill receiving Royal Assent on account of recess - we will be well into May by the time much further progress is made. Government will be keen to get this on the statute book... (4/)
Government has signalled a clear intent that they wish to abolish the committee system - they will probably consider that the Bill's previous provisions (creating "protection" for the committee system in certain authorities) was already a compromise, and will be unwilling to go further (3/)
When the Bill comes back to the Commons, they will undoubtedly seek to revert to the Bill's original wording, and then will start a ping-pong process between them and the Lords to determine who prevails (2/)
In all of the other excitement in the past few days you may have missed that an amendment to the English Devolution Bill was agreed by the Lords, essentially removing the provision in the Bill that would abolish the committee system for English local government (1/)
Interesting that staff in South Cambridge DC received the same salary while working four days instead of five. The £371,500 annual savings came not from cutting salaries but from less staff attrition (over work stress) and less reliance on costly agency workers.
#localgovernment #fourday #work
Everyone just needed better targets
where's the bit where he insists on it tasting like cat vomit?
should Neil Armstrong have read out an Acknowledgment of Country statement before he started off with "it's one small step"?
This is it, isn't it? The apogee, the zenith. You don't get this when you fly. Surface travel often isn't slow travel!
and sometimes not fights, but "edge" - the sense that the mood is shifting, that you should prrrrobably start making a swift exit
indeed, I moved to London as a student in 1998 and on a Fri/Sat night at about half midnight the whole stretch of road between Trafalgar Sq and Warren Street was properly chaotic - fights in the queue at Dionysus, fights between people trying to get on the bus, fights outside clubs and pubs
