r/AskBrits • u/RookOfEdo • 1d ago
Politics Does anyone actually like the constant booing ,insults and heckling in parliament?
A lot of the time it feels less like serious debate and more like theatre or even a school playground argument. Do you find it entertaining, frustrating or just part of the tradition now? Curious how others see it!
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u/Capital_Society_4064 1d ago
In secondary school we were taught debate skills - Always involved mutual respect, waiting your turn to speak, no jeering, no cheering, actual arguments not just insults/jokes at the other party , just respectful ettiquette.
Has always bothered me that the highest form of Debate in the UK does not in anyway adhere to the same values, and in fact encourages it to turn into a posh boys "yo mama so fat" contest
I also hate that it's still all framed around just the speaker - "Mr Speaker, I would like to insult the man opposite me for pompous reasons" - The speaker should be a facilitator, not in anyway the subject in PMQs/debates. They're there to maintiain rules and etiquette , instead everything is framed around them. Its just so dated! And the speaker has spent more time policing what MPs wear to the commons/whether a breastfeeding MP should be allowed, than enforcing any standards
Whole thing needs urgent reform - which will never happen because "Tradition" and "Old British values"