The new MP is right that parliament’s drinking culture is fundamentally weird. But to change it, we need to reset the whole institution, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
For most MPs, turning up in the Commons is a waste of time and very boring. Most don’t get to speak and most, most of the time, vote the way their party tells them to vote. Add to that, the antisocial hours. They drink and eat because they are bored witless.
Then there’s all the ridiculous ceremony and collapsing building with limited office space, parking, accomodation. Parliament really need to be pushed into the 21st C. A new building in, perhaps, a green field site somewhere in the Derby, Nottingham, Loughborough area. An airport nearby, good road and rail links.
For most MPs, turning up in the Commons is a waste of time and very boring. Most don’t get to speak and most, most of the time, vote the way their party tells them to vote. Add to that, the antisocial hours. They drink and eat because they are bored witless.
Then there’s all the ridiculous ceremony and collapsing building with limited office space, parking, accomodation. Parliament really need to be pushed into the 21st C. A new building in, perhaps, a green field site somewhere in the Derby, Nottingham, Loughborough area. An airport nearby, good road and rail links.