So Paul (Lord) Tyler and I did a duet again this time on College Green – that by now well-worn patch of grass outside Parliament that allows the cameras a magnificent background view of Victorian architecture and Big Ben in particular.
We were there to talk about the value of blogging. My points are threefold – anything we can do to bridge the gap between the work of the House of Lords and the public is to be pursued. I counted myself as reasonably familiar with the parliamentary process, but in fact knew very little about how the Lords actually worked and what it did until I arrived here.
‘Only connect’ according to E M Forster;the lack of articulation between the hothouse of Westminster and the wider community is depressing. There is a worrying degree of disilllusionment about politics. Parliament makes laws that affect each and every one of us and it is the public’s right to engage in that process not only at elections but in between them.
Secondly, Parliament, encompassing both Houses, belongs to the people. They have voted and they pay for it. It surely is the responsibility of Parliament to create as many mechanisms as possible to facilitate the expression of all kinds of views.
Thirdly, it is rare for Parliament, and the House of Lords in particular, to run opinion surveys. Admittedly the responses to the various blog messages that peers have posted so far do not represent anything approaching a proper survey. However as this site gets better known and we get to contentious bills, more people may be encouraged to post their views. The media may pronounce on legislation but the do not always represent the full range of public opinion. Blogging has to be a more democratic means of communication?
I really look forward to attending meetings with ministers and saying “public opinion is not on your side on this issue” and back it up with views from this site.
A couple of thoughts for noble Lords..
Whilst it is an ‘inexact science’, being run and moderated by Number 10 Downing Street, the ‘petitions’ on there give a useful indicator of some ‘hot topics’ for public debate.
A classic example of where the independence of the Lords could make a big difference is over environmental issues where there are no clear cut answers. I am in favour of nuclear energy because of the huge potential benefits in cutting carbon emissions. But I respect the fact that others [such as Greenpeace] have different views.
On wind power, my view is that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages [such as noise, impact on wildlife etc.] but that it simply won’t provide the quantity of energy required.
So how will noble Lords engage the debate and decision over, say, the Severn Barrage which is known to have severe environmental impacts, but which potentially could deliver 7% of our energy and make a big difference to Kyoto targets ? Luckily they don’t have to be worried about being re-elected at the whim of public opinion every 4 years..
The problem is the public are inured to being ‘consulted’ on things where the decision has already been made. And they may be against nuclear power, but in favour of the barrage due to the sustainable image of the latter. They may be right, but if they, the British public, don’t cut back their energy use accordingly, they may find themselves wishing the Lords had ignored their views and pushed on with both nuclear and the barrage when the lights start going out..
It is apparent to me that members of the HoC are terrified of the British internet voters. What they post, if and when they post, is poor and rarely do they engage with the site members in any meaningful way. No doubt they will be deluged with single issue groups and mischievous trolls, as with Webcameron (defunct after 15 months), though a bit more investment in 24/7 moderators would go a long way to alleviate these problems (a note for the future!).
One of the common problems with political blogs is the ‘here we go again’ re-hash of topics. One of your winning points is that we are getting an idea of who you are. Neither has to be joined at the hip.
I doubt if there is more than 2-5% of the population that bother to track several blogs and browse a number of media outlets. Heaven knows how they make an informed opinion.
PS who is the author of this blog? Uncategori(z)ed is soooo not British.
Ladytizzy – really sorry- it was me! Don’t know how I managed to get myself ‘uncategorised’
what goes around
Your point about the nature of consultation stands out. Is it merely an exercise in virtual democracy?
From what I see in the Lords there are many consultations between ministers and those peers who have both strong commitments and real expertise on particular bills and the Government DOES listen; in fact it often goes out of its way to alter wording in draft bills to satisfy the opposition.
While some may see this as a kind of game (I’ll give you this concession if you agree not to oppose a different amendment)I think it is more than that. There is genuine goodwill and a willingness to listen between Government ministers and the rank and file!
If the Government doesn’t listen it is likely to get defeated at the voting stage.
Baroness,
You and Lord Norton express the view about connecting with people, but until now this has been rather tricky. I did write to Lord Ashley about a specific topic but he, quite rightly, referred me to my MP.
Until the advent of the site ‘theyworkforyou’ there has not been an easy way of writing to Parliamentarians. Until this blog kicked off, I wouldn’t have known the names of more than half a dozen of the Lords, and I certainly wouldn’t easily know an address I could write to.
Not all the noble Lords have email, and to be honest email is not really the best way of getting in touch with any Parliamentarians. It is fine for expressing an opinion, but I wouldn’t expect to receive a reply unless I had made the effort to post a letter, in all fairness. None of has our own dedicated Baroness for our own region of the country, so there is not a specific link.
Perhaps we could ‘adopt-a-Baroness’, based upon those 75 word ‘CVs’ you submitted when wanting to be saved from the chop. Then we could decide which Lord or Baroness we liked the best and write to them !
Failing that we could look on ‘theyworkforyou’ to see whose recent contributions impress us most, and write to them accordingly. But maybe we also need statistics on who bothers to show up the most, to give us the best chance of influencing debate. Although I suspect you would say that anyone who really needs to contact you can do so – and the effort that they need to make at least means that deserving cases will be heard whilst deterring time-wasters.
“The media… do not always represent the full range of public opinion”
well you can say that again anytime you like.
Hope the Commons start blogging soon.
Barbelo said:
“Hope the Commons start blogging soon.”
I don’t think this could happen in the Commons as MPs’ usually write in reply to constituency enquires or reply through their own individual blogs. General correspondence to a group, if it happens, is always courteously acknowledged but referred back to a constituency MP.
The Lords’ on the other hand have no such restrictions placed upon them. At least this is my understanding.
Ah! So the Commons can continue to ‘mind the Gap’ rather than bridge the gap.