Probably like you, I found the US Congress debates on the banking bailout a couple of weeks ago captivating. Yesterday, the German Bundestag voted for their banking bailout by 476 votes to 99, after a detailed and vigorous debate, which one Bundestag member called "an unprecedented tour de force".
Meanwhile, a number of my constituents last week and this have asked me if Parliament is an exciting place to be at the moment, debating the banking crisis. The only problem is this: we haven't debated the banking crisis at all, except for a three hour debate on the fiscal rules, undertaken during Opposition time, and an hour and a half topical debate on "financial stability" in Government time. And definitely no votes on the bailout. Want to find out whether your MP agrees with the bailout? Tough.
In fact, the House of Commons has been a backwater these last two weeks, and bear in mind that these two weeks have come after a 75 day long Recess. There have been only six votes at all - none on the banking crisis - and no votes at all this past week. On two of the nine business days, the business has finished early, due to a lack of contributions. On Thursday, I took a local vicar around Parliament. Markets around the world were gyrating violently. We sat in the gallery to watch part of a four-hour debate on primary health care. There were seven MPs in the Chamber. Rather embarrassed, I pointed out that all of the seven had to be there - the Deputy Speaker, the Government minister, the two main opposition party health spokesmen, one whip for each side, and the minister's PPS.
It seems that no sooner are we back after a 75-day absence, however, and Parliament has determined the Recess dates for 2009 which include another 145 non-sitting days. This seems to me to be two weeks longer than usual. Some of us are fans of Parliaments like Switzerland and various US state houses where the politicians are part-time, and gather for a limited period each year to pass a minimal set of laws, but as we do have full-time MPs, surely we might expect them to debate the banking bail-out and wider economic crisis?