{"id":1377,"date":"2012-12-27T21:56:25","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T05:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2013-08-10T23:03:44","modified_gmt":"2013-08-11T06:03:44","slug":"observing-history-in-action-a-visit-to-parliament-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=1377","title":{"rendered":"Observing History in Action: A Visit to Parliament in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The United Kingdom is surprisingly liberal in allowing the public to view Parliament, which is a great thrill for visitors with an interest in government and politics. \u00a0All debates and many committee meetings can be observed for free. \u00a0Those interested simply queue at the security line off Cromwell Green (directly across Westminster Abbey on the west side of Parliament). \u00a0Although the queue may be long (ours wasn’t, given that we visited in late November), the line moves fast.<\/p>\n

After passing through the security line, and passing by a very unique vantage point of Big Ben (an excellent photo opportunity), the next stop is the impressive Westminster Hall. \u00a0This room is the only remnant of the original Westiminster Palace. \u00a0Built in 1097, it is clearly an engineering marvel for the time. \u00a0Westminster Hall has been the location for coronation banquets, and historically housed several important courts.<\/p>\n

Past Westminster Hall, visitors are ushered into either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. \u00a0We went to the House of Commons, which required navigating through a maze of staircases and narrow hallways. \u00a0Just before the gallery, visitors are required to check all cameras and phones. \u00a0The public gallery we arrived in was perched above the debating floor and separated by a large shield of glass. \u00a0Televisions and paper programs provided details on the agenda for the proceedings. \u00a0On our particular day, the Parliament was discussing disability benefits.<\/p>\n

Both the tradition and organization of the Parliament were fascinating. \u00a0While I knew that parties worked together to form coalition governments, I had no idea that the losing coalition formed their own “shadow government”, complete with a Shadow Cabinet with their own Secretary of State, Secretary of Health, etc. \u00a0During our visit, we saw members of both the prevailing Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet speak.<\/p>\n

Thirty minutes was enough to experience Parliament. \u00a0With more time, I may have ventured into the House of Lords as well to compare to the two. \u00a0The most exciting time is supposed to be the “Question Time” held each week, where the prime minister is interrogated by the Members of Parliament. \u00a0However, it sounds like crowds make it difficult to get a seat.<\/p>\n

We were very impressed with the efficient and open system the UK has created for viewing their government in action. \u00a0I fully recommend the experience for any visitors to London interested in politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Kingdom is surprisingly liberal in allowing the public to view Parliament, which is a great thrill for visitors with an interest in government and politics. \u00a0All debates and many committee meetings can be observed for free. \u00a0Those interested … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,116,3],"tags":[86,27,16,6,69,55],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}