Task 1
Question Time, February 24th
In British politics it is common that the members of parliament, usually shortened down to MPs, meets the Government Ministers to ask questions concerning various political subjects. These questions are known as "oral questions" and takes place at the start of business on a daily basis, in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. In the lower house (House of Commons), each government department are obligated to answer questions according to a rota called the Order of Oral Questions. The difference between the Question Time in the two houses are that the questions from the Lords are to the government as a whole, but the questions from the Commons goes to the particular government departments. This is due to the division of power in the two houses; the House of Commons has more power than the House of Lords. Every Wednesday, the Prime Minister participates in Question Time in the House of Commons for half an hour. The questions from the MPs are dropped at least three days in advance. The session starts with a question from one of the MPs about the Prime Minister's engagements. Following the Prime Minister's answer, the MP can raise a question concerning a particular political issue, usually of a current significance. The leader of the Opposition are then allowed to follow up on either this topic, or change to another topic.
On February 24th, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown started the engagement talk with a tribute to the troops in Afghanistan. The tribute was followed with a discussion about the economy.
The question that were asked to the Prime Minister in this particular meeting were in general about health care and economy. The Leader of the Opposition (the Conservatives), David Cameron, stated that the GNP (Gross National Product) per capita is lower today than before Brown entered the role as Prime Minister, and that he thereby leaves the country poorer than when he entered the position. Cameron talked with a massive empathy and tried his best to gain the MPs support. It seemed that Brown had a more relaxed appearance than his opponent Cameron. Brown replied with saying that the total GNP per capita is higher now than in 1997. Cameron accused Gordon Brown for lying and asked him to stand up with a straight face and tell the audience that the statement actually was true. Brown replied that he had answered the question three times already. It was obvious that Cameron had not prepared himself well enough for the debate.
Task 2
The importance of TV debates in terms of politics
This year’s election in Britain will be different. Every Wednesday the U.K. prime minister meets the House of Commons for what they call a “Question Time”. In 2010 this debate will be sent on television all over Britain, and many people believe this will have a huge impact on the election.
Although intensive debates can help a candidate, once the contest begins, it is almost impossible for the candidates to hide their true character. An example is when McCain performed poorly on a debate sent on TV. Just as the camera had picked up McCain's nervous laughter, manic grin and habit of cutting his opponent off, many people lost some of their respect for the U.S. presidential candidate. In other words, these debates could be the best chance British voters have of experiencing a moment of truth during this campaign.
It has been set a lot of rules for this new type of question time. The BBC, ITV and Sky and the three main political parties have agreed on the rules for live prime ministerial debates in the run-up to the election of 2010. The three 90-minute sessions will begin by focusing on domestic policies, international affairs and the economy. The studio audiences will then be able to ask questions on any subject, with television viewers doing the same via e-mail. The Labor Partys Gordon Brown, Lib Dem Nick Clegg and Tory David Cameron have welcomed the news.
The first debate, focusing on domestic affairs, will be held in the north-west of England.
The second, themed on global issues, will take place in south-west England. The third debate will be dealing with the economy. The applause will be restricted to the beginning and end of the debates and the audience will not be allowed to respond to the leaders' answers. Some of the other rules that are set for these debates are that the audience will, as I mentioned above, have the opportunity to pose questions, but no heckling. The leaders will have to make a one minute opening statement on the theme of the debate. Further on they have one minute to answer each question, and one minute to respond to the answers. The leaders also have to shake hands at the end of the debate.
Television has influenced the presidential elections in the United States for many years, in both a good and bad way. The media circus around presidential elections has made candidates to pursue a better image, but as I mentioned above it also can affect them negatively. The candidates that look bad or for example get nervous in front of the cameras can loose a lot of votes this way, but on the opposite, TV performance naturally makes a positive turn for the candidates. President Clinton is a good example to mention. Many people did not know much about him, who he was or what he stood for, but he made a fantastic apperance on television and in the media: Great presence, a good looking guy, smart and friendly – these factors made a turning point in his career. The media loved him, and the American people started to pay more attention to him – this helped him to win two elections in a row.
