Friday, November 16, 2012

Fulbright Association Conference, London!


the queue of Royal Fusiliers waiting in line to view the debate in the House of Commons
The first thing I did after I landed was to head to Parliament. I have traveled to London several times, but I never had the opportunity to observe the House of Commons or the House of Lords from the galleries. This, I was determined to do on this trip.

Much to my dismay, I arrived at Westminster to find a massive demonstration of Royal Fusiliers protesting cuts to the regiment. These photos are of the queue of soldiers waiting to get in to the gallery.

I loved to see "democracy in action" and citizens coming to voice protest in the Parliament on the day I arrived....but my heart sank when I saw this long line. (This was the one opportunity I would have to visit Parliament during the conference.) I was told to come back again in the afternoon.

I decided to go see the London Eye and to have lunch while I waited for an opportunity to visit Parliament.



I was thrilled that when I returned, I was given a pass to see the House of Lords. I think you can see I am just beaming in this picture, with my Visitor credential, despite how exhausted I was from the overnight travel to London.

I was so excited to be climbing the narrow staircase as I was heading up to the "strangers" gallery. I wanted to stop and look at all of the pictures on the walls, but I was eager to get into the gallery and listen to the debate.

In the House of Lords, the debate centered around education policy. Many of the same concepts and ideas that are discussed at home surfaced in this debate (class size, IB programs, etc.).  One thing I was not expecting was to recognize any of the Lords.  In fact, my eyes scanned the chamber, I saw that Andrew Lloyd Weber was participating in the debate!  I inquired in the cloakroom whether he comes often. I was told that I was very lucky to have seen him but that he does try to attend whenever anything related to the arts in education may be discussed.

I didn't stay too long, for I was anxious to have the opportunity to visit the House of Commons as well.  As it turned out, the debate about the Fusiliers was still raging. This provided an opportunity to visit the House of Commons gift shop (yes! refrigerator magnets for my collection) and to have tea and scones (with clotted cream) as I waited. In the cafe it was possible to watch the debates on closed circuit TVs  My patience and persistence finally paid off, and I was able to get to the House of Commons gallery before I had to leave for the conference.

I was glad I had the opportunity to visit each chamber in person. So much different from when I watch the Prime Minister's Question Time on C-Span. And the chambers provide quite a stark contrast. The House of Commons seems barren and plain compared with the Lords.  Also, there is a great glass wall that divides the House of Commons gallery -- so that those in the gallery cannot throw things at their MPs. (There was no such barrier in the Lords)  It was off-putting, to say the least. (And we all had gone through airport-type security screening prior to entering the complex and then had to leave all bags, packages, coats in the cloakroom. I don't know what could possibly be left to throw at an MP?)

By the time I arrived, the debate had moved on to the use of wiretap evidence by the courts. And I was horrified that the U.S. was used as an example of why this evidence should be used without restrictions (in the context of fighting the War on Terror)....without reference to the 4th Amendment or any of our caselaw about domestic use of wiretapping. Good thing they had that glass wall so that I would not be tempted to throw down a pocket copy of the US Constitution and engage him in a discussion about unreasonable searches and seizures.

You can learn more about the debates here:

Debate in House of Commons about 2nd battalion of fusiliers

Debate in the House of Lords about education




Harrod's Food Hall!

tea and crumpets



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