Also I feel the consequence of this bill is pretty irrelevant as to the fate of the GMT, or rather than GMT is pretty irrelevant to a conversation about saving money, climate, economies and lives.

22. Quite, Rob Zombies “Halloween” is widely regarded as a torture-porn masterpiece that is by and large the worst “horror” movie ever made. That made it to these shores perfectly fine. I’m glad to see that the appeal won against the BBFC, it’s one for common sense and personal liberties.

[/grumpy Northerner]

That said: “the Cliff Richard Pension Fund Enhancement Bill” LMAO!

I would of thought it will almost certainly have to now let it through at 18, which it should have done in the first place rather than kow-towing to the Mail and others. It’s ludicrous that films such as Saw and the others in the “torture-porn” genre are let through uncut when Manhunt, which by all accounts isn’t even a very-good game was banned.

Perhaps the solution really is to sample the public mood more frequently, by electing 1/5th of parliament every year or so.

@ Lee Griffin – yes, have a look at the links at the bottom of this page: http://www.timyeo.org.uk/record.jsp?type=article&ID=37

But then I suppose there’s rarely a time when they don’t wish control the morals of this country regardless of the evidence either way.

So there’s no point suggesting to Vaz that we settle this over a Quake deathmatch then?

On Yeo’s bill, the ‘neither here nor there’ comment is meant only in the sense that it looks to have no particular party political content and should rest on how good a factual case Yeo can put up.

Septicisle:

Precisely. The list of supporters makes interesting reading – Gummer, Vaz, Widdie, Stephen Pound, Dorries… its a god squad bill all over.

12. the opposite question has to be, do we want the government to be able to so easily manufacture their own re-election. Perhaps an alternative to fixed term parliaments are (with allowances) great advanced notice of the specific time frame in which an election will take place?

We do seem to have the same argument every year though, specifically in respect to Scotland, and much of it centred around business. I fully respect that some businesses don’t have much choice about when they operate (because of needing to perhaps be logistically in time with those on the continent)…but surely it is easier to benefit everyone by businesses being the ones that change their operating times rather than everyone else changing their clocks for every appliance and time keeping device they have?

I mean, put us in a perpetual state of BST, but rather than schools starting at 9am start them at 10am..same goes for farmers and similar that complain about the lightness of the day…they can return these hours to what is currently practiced during the traditional BST period to take advantage of the earlier daylight. Is there any credibility in this as an idea? Surely, to my mind, there is little to lose by doing so…especially when doing so would actually put British workers on the same hours as those in the majority of Europe.

I don’t know, interesting subject though!

This is one of those neither here nor there Bills

I’m not sure about that. Has anyone calculated what would be the likely benefits in reduced carbon emissions of more evening daylight in winter? They could be significant – certainly more than a couple of pence on petrol every 12 months.

I think this guy is the one who will eventually make the nomination. Mitt Romney is officially on his way out (on my list).

The bills to reduce voting age and for fixed term parliaments look interesting too.

You say the bill for Fixed Term Parliaments has no hope in hell. That’s a shame because I like it on face value.

At this stage, fixed term parliaments might sound good on paper but would prove a nightmare under current constitutional conditions due to the lack of separation between the executive and legislature. Any move to fixed terms has to provide answers to questions such as what happens if a government loses its majority in mid-term due to a by-election or loses a confidence vote.

I think Anthony Barnett from OurKingdom is well placed to answer this…

Another problem: LEAs are responsible both for assessment and funding, with evidence that children are not being statemented because the LEA is then under a duty to provide the funds. It will be interesting to see how the Bill proposes to address all this – preferably without compromising the privacy and dignity of the children themselves.

Not necessarily.

Bills lower down the list can often make it if they can attract the right kind of support – which generally means getting the Leader of the House and the Whips onside – or where they’re straightforward enough to pass on the nod from the main parties.

A pity Tim Yeo didn’t get a higher place for his effort to rationalise daylight saving. While his solution may not be the best one, it’s high time the absurd and costly ritual of altering the clocks twice a year, with its accompaniment of long dark winter evenings and widespread depression [now dignified as SAD syndrome], was done away with.