As parliamentarians we have constant opportunities to learn about almost every conceivable topic. First there are the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) open to members of both Houses and covering for example topics from euthanasia, animal welfare and modern languages to first aid and monuments. Almost every country has its own group of interested politicians. Then there are the more formal groups such as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Any MP or Peer can book a committee room to hold a meeting on a particular topic – for example to show a documentary film and encourage discussion.
Anyhow there are perhaps 50 of these meetings every day that Parliament sits and the difficulty is in deciding which ones to go to. For example this last week I went to the following gatherings – one to celebrate 21 years of the National Aids Trust, the Royal Opera’s coming season, Ministerial briefings on Zimbabwe and Sudan, a strategy meeting of the Africa APPG, and a breakfast briefing on the US Elections.
The breakfasts are the initiative of Lord Desai an internationally renowned economist and professor at LSE. The topics vary widely but the format is always the same, two speakers each having about 10-15 minutes and then discussion. In the meantime a full breakfast is served and we are all free to get to our desks by about 9.15 am.
The one last Tuesday was very interesting. Irving Seltzer, an academic economist and commentator, predicted that if Barack Obama won the Presidential election then for sure the next president would be Sarah Palin – who according to him would have had time to spruce up and become more presidential (this prediction came before the recent indictment on possible abuse of power as Governor of Alaska). If on the other hand John McCain won the Hilary Clinton would most definitely be the front runner for the next president. In saying this clearly Mr Seltzer was assuming that there would now be only a one -term presidency due to the enormous difficulties facing any new president and the harsh policies that might need to bed imposed.
He also believed that Obama was a protectionist and urged us not to forget that he had in the early days of the campaign been supportive of action against Iran. McCain on the o ther hand was a free-marketeer mand relative non-interventionist.
My week-end guests one of whom is a (retired) economist says that all will be well once we learn to pray to the Market God showing our respect for a force greater than ourselves!
Who on earth is ‘Irving Seltzer’ ?? Do you mean that crazed neocon who is Rupert Murdoch’s ‘presence on earth’ Irwin Seltzer ??
If so, can you please stop re-cycling partial claptrap like this as though it was based on some sort of insightful, impartial analysis ??
This guy already has far too much influence peddling the Murdoch world-view, and he doesn’t need any more free PR from ‘Lords of the Blog’. He is only ‘influential’ because Uncle Rupert gives him free column space to spout Rupey’s views at every available opportunity.
Wow! But of course you are right to question who on earth Irving Seltzer is – no idea who he might be. However Irwin STELZER is maybe the guy to whom we both refer?
I note what you say and respect your views.
Touche pussycat…
The rest of your post was most insightful about the plurality of views you are exposed to.
The more general point here is that I would expect that the ‘Lords’ are a bit more circumspect and have, for want of a better phrase, ‘helicopter vision’ about the arts, sciences and that alchemic mix of the two – ‘economics’.
Your posts are usually very intelligent and insightful, but the phrase which gave me cause for concern was “The breakfasts are the initiative of Lord Desai an internationally renowned economist and professor at LSE”.
I have nowt against Lord Desai. My point is that, as the old phrase goes, if you have 5 economists, you will have 6 different views.
The problem is that when it comes to looking at, say, science you can have many many ‘internationally renowned professors’ of the environment who may, nevertheless, have very different views on things like climate change, nuclear energy and windfarms.
Or indeed the best solutions for food shortages, dealing with poverty and disease and water supply in developing countries.
Likewise on ethical and moral issues like stem-cell research. One always has to consider one’s own prejudices and moral or ethical standpoint – at the end of the day, if one really wants, I’m sure that you could find a doctor who could tell you that, in his/her expert opinion, smoking a few fags, drinking a few pints, and having a cooked breakfast every day, were the recipe for a long and happy life.
Just because that doctor was ‘world renowned’ and you were hanging on his or her every word like a giggly schoolgirl, would not necessarily make the message truthful or accurate. I think you are bright enough to trust your own instincts far more, rather than ‘outsourcing’ such thought to the likes of ‘alka-seltzer’ – it is that suspension of our critical faculties which is largely responsible for getting us into the so-called ‘global financial crisis’ [or ‘turmoil’ now that the c-word has been over-used..].
Toodle-pip.
BG
I will come to your aid Baroness! Bedd Gelert is an anagram of ‘Dr debt glee’ otherwise known as the First Lord of the Treasury and ‘Rupert Murdoch’ is an anagram of ‘PM or crude hurt’. Which do you prefer? Perhaps neither!
Senex – Amazing, I’ve been rumbled at last !!
By the way, did you know that Kaupthing Edge is an anagram of ‘Kaput ING Hedge..’ ? Not as good as your senex, but we amateurs have to start somewhere,
Must dash, country to run, economy to ruin, other people’s solutions to claim credit for and all that..
Toodle-pip, see you at Glenrothes…