When George Osbourne sat down, and after the inevitable rhetoric of Ed Milliband, I was relieved. My relief was nothing to do with what was said in the chamber, it was the fact that we did not have to sit through the traditional response to the budget from a third major political party as there is currently a coalition in power! Many of us, no matter our views or status in life, teach our children to respect one another when they are speaking. In schools, up and down the land, children are asked to listen when being spoken to, and to put up their hand in order to ask a question, and to be considerate and attentive to others. From time to time children might abandon these rules and the advice given to them, but when they do, there are consequences for them, and often these might appear to be punitive from a child's perspective, as they might lose out on some perceived valuable privilege, such as losing out on their "Golden Time", or whatever this might be called these days. The behaviour of the house, during this year's budget, was pretty awful! The worst that happened to the baying adults (and we must remember that these men and women of this august and historic chamber are adults who are elected to represent us), was a reprimand from the Deputy Speaker. There was little that could be labelled as being "honourable" in the chamber. There was little evidence of any of them being "friends" either, despite the politicians referring to one another as just that! If this sort of behaviour, that included loud shouts, cries and yells whilst another was speaking, were to be witnessed in a schoolroom, even in a class of the very youngest pupils within our society, it would be deemed to be entirely unacceptable. I could not even imagine any kindergarten or creche being so rowdy and uncontrollable. The type of behaviour has been prevalent within the lower chamber for many years, but at any time—let alone during the delivery of a budget speech that should be allowed to be given in silence, as it affects us all so much—such raised voices and gesticulating cannot be thought of as being childish, as no group of children would be likely to engage in such verbosity. The politicians may wish to make a point, but, as in any half decent school that has a modicum of discipline, MP's should await their turn and they should only speak when they are asked to do so, and the remainder of the time they should simply listen. Grown adults should not have to have a referee in a long gown asking them to come to "order" and asking them to respect the Chancellor of the Realm or the Leader Her Majesty's opposition. This rumbustious acting and baiting has been going on for long enough. Seeing our elected representatives acting in such a manner is not helpful to politics. It also gives the observer little confidence in a parliament that carries the title of being the Mother of all Parliaments, a title that this chamber now deserves to lose. Arwyn Bailey. The Money Artist.
