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NAZZ
Barsoom
United Kingdom
179 Posts |
 Posted - 16/10/2007 : 21:26:05
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Ah well some are more equal than others.
Brings to mind an old sketch featuring Cleese(upper class)Ronnie Barker
(middle class)and Ronnie Corbett (working class)
The only sentance Corbett utters is "I know my place"
LONDON - The clerks, aides and secretaries who work in Parliament consider it the unkindest cut of all.
British lawmakers have been granted the power to move to the head of the line at restaurants, restrooms and elevators inside the Houses of Parliament, enraging those assistants, researchers, janitors and other workers who must only stand and wait.
The workers warn that Parliament is in danger of appearing decidedly undemocratic in allowing the lawmakers, in British parlance, to "jump the queue."
"People are outraged," said Kevin Flack, an aide and labor union representative. "They are shocked by the attitude behind it as much as anything."
The dispute strikes at the heart of a peculiarly British obsession — the sanctity of waiting patiently in line for buses, trains, coffee stands, deli counters — anywhere there is a crowd.
Pierre Klemas, 28, a noise consultant for a London engineering company, said he wouldn't dare cut a line in Britain.
"It's part of the culture here," said Klemas, a Frenchman, waiting at a London bus stop. "Jumping a queue is just not very British."
Flack, one of around 10,000 workers at Parliament — parts of which date to around the 11th century — said staff feel they are being ranked as second-class citizens by elected members.
Anger boiled over at a meeting Tuesday, with staff accusing legislators of boldly brushing them aside at elevator lobbies and cutting as workers waited to be issued with new security passes. The House of Commons administration committee — which approved the policy — acknowledged members needed to negotiate on the changes, but didn't offer to scrap the directive.
"It was a very angry meeting, with staff complaining about queue jumping, particularly at lifts," Flack said. Another grievance, he said, is the fact elected members already have a number of plush dining rooms and bars to which staff and the public are denied access.
"At a time when Parliament is trying to bring itself into the modern world, this feels like a step back to ancient times," Flack said.
Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords already enjoy a range of privileges — from reserved spaces for their ceremonial swords to a special legal exemption that prevents them from being sued over anything said in Parliament's chambers.
Lawmakers also retain the ancient right to collect a pinch of snuff — or chewing tobacco — from doorkeepers.
As inequitable as the British staff might find the change, there are few places — if any — where an American lawmaker might stand in line on Capitol Hill. U.S. representatives have their own elevators, dining rooms and doors — and their own restrooms in their offices.
The parliamentary edict was approved by Peter Grant Peterkin, Parliament's flamboyantly dressed sergeant-at-arms, an administrator whose ceremonial uniform includes buckled boots, tights and a sword.
His office declined requests to photograph signs hung in cafes and restaurants reminding staff to give lawmakers priority.
Joe Moran, a cultural historian at Liverpool John Moores University, said the Parliament directive was not unprecedented.
"In World War II, pregnant women often had their hands stamped with queue priority" in lines for food and essentials, he said. "So there is a precedent for thinking some people have greater need to get to the front than others."
Legislator Lembit Opik, best known for his obsession with asteroid strikes and his pop singer girlfriend, is backing their claim and has rallied the support of fellow lawmakers.
"This announcement serves to create a rigid two-tier system which is counter to an enlightened image of Parliament," Opik said in a motion reprimanding colleagues for allowing the changes.
There is "merit in a general presumption of equality," said Opik's statement, which had been signed by 68 other legislators by Tuesday.
It's an opinion mirrored on the streets.
"People here are conservative. They like keeping to tradition, compared with other countries," said Andy Ankomah, a 23-year-old marketing assistant from London, waiting for a bus on a central London street. "I've been to the U.S.A. and they're not too bothered about queues."
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No Expert
Barsoom
427 Posts |
Posted - 16/10/2007 : 21:41:01
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| In a word: Hilarous! |
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Anubis
Barsoom
279 Posts |
Posted - 16/10/2007 : 23:33:03
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Dear NAZZ
Your contribution cannot be faulted -- except it is SO superficial.
Only those who have NEVER actively participated in the politics of our realm could ever even imagine there is anything "democratic' about it. Politics is "sold" like toothpaste ... and to even be a successful applicant to "enter the House" requires a backing of millions of pounds (i.e. from a Tory or Labour 'party") and unless such a 'successful' applicant 'toes the line' he/she quickly becomes a nonentity.
Only those who have NEVER fought a battle in the law courts (any battle) can imagine for a moment there is EVER anything "fair and equitable" about the legal structure. If a working person takes on a bureaucracy (a Council or an institution), he/she soon learns the "cost" of preparing the evidence -- the other party of course having unlimited funds, costing them, as individuals nothing, he soon experiences the comeradie between judge and the barristers of both parties for whom the whole process is a "game" .
The REAL mistake you make is to imply the status quo SHOULD OR COULD be "democratic". It couldn't ... that's the way it is. But we could make it so .....
and this means looking deeper than just superficial moans on the Livewire.
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moon23
Calaspia
841 Posts |
Posted - 17/10/2007 : 14:17:55
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| I'm sure MPs have better things to do then wait behind some working class scoundrel queuing up for chips. :) |
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Undemocratic parliament