PMQs - Any improvement?

I heard Edwina Currie explaining that the reason they make these strange noises is because they're not allowed to clap in the House! Doesn't explain the jeering and grunting, though

It is no way to get anything serious done - it is just point-scoring and i wholly unedifying. I know that having a built-in opposition is considered democratic, and I understand the theory, but there must be a better way of carrying it out than this. I cannot bear the declamatory voices - they really grate on me - just say what you have to say for goodness' sake!

In Scotland, last night we were subjected to a so-called debate between Nicola Sturgeon and Joanne Lamont during which they constantly talked simultaneously, such that the viewers could not hear what either of them was saying. Occasionally the presenter feebly called for order but you could not hear what she was saying either. I think this was the third debate using this format that STV has presented and each one has got worse than the preceding ones. It is a complete waste of everyone's time and does no favours to the 'debaters' or their respective causes.

I think the participants should be confined to soundproof boxes with their microphones switched off after they have posed their question so that they, and we, can hear the response.

I wish it were possible to hear what PMQs and some of the great parliamentary debates of the past sounded like when, say, Churchill, Lloyd George, Gladstone or Disraeli were at their peak, if only to listen to how they dealt with the rowdy conduct, if it took place in those days. I know Thatcher handled it very well, though she was facing only fairly lightweight opposition, apart from old Dennis Skinner!

PMQs used to be a daily event so it wasn't quite the "draw" that it is now. It was reduced to thrice weekly in deference to Churchill's age and then later became this weekly soundbite show-off bunfight.

I suspect that the televising of parliamentary proceedings has encouraged playing to the gallery. At least the speaker is trying impose some order.

You think they behave badly in the HoC? m.youtube.com/watch?v=ah_QZtz4bMc Just look on YouTube!

LilyG Yes, Turks scuffling in their Parliament confirms that maybe things are not so bad at Westminster. However, I still think that good manners,decency, fair-play and reasonable conduct are lacking at the Mother of Parliaments. In a talking shop I like to hear the talk, otherwise there is no point in being there.

What the hell was Speaker Bercow thinking of by his comment re PMQ'S.

He is in the Chair, he allows the bad behaviour, he is just as bad as the rest of them but he get's away with his snide comments, why, because he can. I find him a most annoying little character with an oversize ego.

It is ridiculous to be partisan over this matter, both sides of the House are as bad as one another. It sure as hell has nothing to do with class nor private school education, nor is it correct to think that is the male of the specie that heckles and shouts the loudest. Have you ever heard and seen the likes of Anna Soubrey and the Eagle twins at their finest. Hells bells Emily Thornberry is a positive nightmare.

PMQ's is a marvellous democratic process and long may it continue in it's present form. Yes it get's childish, yes it get's loud but a good Speaker can and would use non partisan tactics and dictate how far he/she allows the behaviour to deteriorate. The Deputy Speaker is by far the better person to have control over the House in my opinion.

Bring back Betty, she knew how to do it.

PMQs doesn't seem the least bit democratic these days – it's just an opportunity for the PM to posture and deliver soundbites. It serves no purpose whatsoever except pandering to the PM's (whoever he or she is) ego. It's certainly not informative.

I agree, absent. PMQs is a waste of time because the PM never answers a question from the opposition leader. He just has his soundbites ready and his backbenchers have already been primed as to what questions to ask him in a sychophantic manner.

The same as the questions from the Opposition Benches then.

I remember Gordon Brown was the worst of the lot at evading answering questions at PMQ's, he always seemed like a rabbit in a head light or so angry he would explode.

Good job parliament has good debating days, when partisan politics don't get in the way that is.

PMQs. The clue is in the name. MPs ask the PM questions and he answers.
As the same person has been PM for nearly four years, he has had lots of chances to answer questions, but never does, except from his own backbenchers.
Yesterday there was a good debate, but it was certainly partisan as it was to do with the number of people who have been sanctioned, etc., by the DWP. In 2012 over 10000 people died within 6 weeks of having their benefits cut and being told they were fit for work. I do not think the DWP was set up to reduce the population!
I notice that the Treasury has blocked IDS's plans to change the way that child poverty is measured. That's not a party political move. However, parliament was set up on partisan lines. Since the coalition came in, most MPs now go home at 5.30 p.m. because there is no debate on many topics.
The government is supposed to be held to account by the opposition, more than it is at the moment. This is the sort of thing that the PM should be answering questions on in PMQs, and there should be more debate about poverty.

Parliament just gone home now, or whoever was there, not many of them.

POGS, David Cameron is always being lampooned for going bright red when he gets angry, which he does every PMQ. His bald patch moves depending on how angry he is, too.

We've watched PMQ every week for years, I love it even though I know it possibly puts Parliament in a bad light.
I think the questions are prepared and anticipated by the PM who has his answers already written down. Probably by some civil servant. Sometimes there are some spontaneous interruptions which liven things up.
I've seen a similar thing from the french National Assembly which was very formal and boring.

When I am on the computer, I usually have Parliament TV in the background, or News24 if it's not on. Much more interesting than the soaps, etc.

Order, ORDER!!

Undisciplined rabble.

How DARE they call it the Mother of Parliaments when they behave like a bunch of unruly boys?

email.change.org/wf/click?upn=L4wUyO6b13sjdmUXmXaF3KtKLEGmz0RXCmjuvXlNsM8khcfnRNebWzDMHPa6oUym0v3RauhnLhMGat8WnG6ewYvpFleZkBHWZDrJIWVh4isjG-2FHfiahkzgLB0my-2FQA9SdHdjdqoRDIyKAI9qOM2Gr6OXis-2FGjC97ukXu0lya1lEKyCbVy-2BuXzHPxvzJHV9LB6xxtWych2jxdZQ0NctuZIUxNePHk-2FdZV8QcPmOzQj3oRyTNXNroEESasKrh4FSxcJ0KWpEJZEVb9bioqzY-2F0eXfmM6Xk-2F3AeSDsGQVRgKQo9VnjRSjd4KIkYai5G1egY_G1p9J7JWuJi-2FBwbkus0-2BAeJItTZbmk08do3uRy-2F7vQDgi2uukpYVQ1BRzQ-2FxWWjOvodlWih2nAvgXcRGjVVx9UD2-2Fk-2F3YbTAq3qdAoVeOpvJYj9e-2BCkzZNQsLT7jbsOa5X1mrt48mFLuiks2k058d7eqy7p4mG1-2B7H4gVj1kkQGu0lbAqzTsT7J4qdE9zOsx91TLvfJGZ3kPIDl5JeOICFk3Y-2F3dbpspL9Y4Pky57R3HdUXvOpkSZSx5CYv1qofbGppL2xTWeXRaAKEGkbuXJOqGcxbfDdqpENI-2Fby-2FbWwmPl-2F85XBvNXiIFAq0-2FtjqZ

Wow, never done a link this long before. I wonder if it will work.
It's to ask Cameron to improve PMQs. That probably will not work either, but we can but hope.

Yes, it works, but I do not know why it's that long.