Tag Archives: edm

Mark Pack

An Early Day Motion to change Early Day Motions

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st March 2011 - 8:55 am

Never let it be said that self-referentiality is dead in Parliament. I give you Early Day Motion 432 for 2010-11 which calls for EDMs to be reformed or abolished.

EDMs have come in for a fair degree of flack (and it’s hard to see what the David Hasselhoff And Morecambe Winter Gardens EDM really achieved). However, many of the criticisms are easily dealt with by simple reforms, such as abolishing the expensive printing of hard copies of EDMs in large quantities.

With a few such simple reforms, EDMs could be an effective, and cost-effective, part of our Parliamentary processes. …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Parliament | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Three simple ways to reform EDMs, without harming the fibreglass sheep

By Mark Pack | Fri 12th November 2010 - 5:53 pm

Dizzy Thinks has been on the case again about the costs run by Early Day Motions in Parliament. As he delicately puts it:

Yes, we really do have to spend £150K alone on the salary, pension and NI contributions for the poor sods that have to sort out the latest self-congratulatory bollocks that our MPs want to spout off fruitlessly about.

The combination of cost and triviality of many EDMs has caused some people to call for their abolition. I think this is going too far, as some EDMs do provide a useful mechanism, as a focus for external campaign groups, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Lamb criticises “MMR scaremongering”

By The Voice | Thu 12th February 2009 - 10:40 am

Norman Lamb has tabled Early Day Motion 754, “MMR vaccine and the media“.

This follows a public dispute between award-winning blogger Ben Goldacre and radio station LBC over a broadcast by Jeni Barnett that Goldacre describes as a “44 minute tirade against MMR”.

According the party’s press release, Norman said:

“Suggesting that the MMR vaccine is dangerous in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary is massively irresponsible and could put children’s lives at risk.

“This kind of scaremongering has had a serious impact on public health in the last decade.

“Cases of measles have risen dramatically in the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • George Thomas
    Perhaps my most illiberal "opinion" is that automatic freedom of movement for immigrants is possibly a bad thing*. I remember speaking with a recent refugee who...
  • Chloe
    'underlying emotions are fear, resentment and inadequacy relating to their own lives' Are you saying the residents of Crowborough or Bicester who've protested ...
  • Andy Daer
    We're talking about two different things here. The reasons our potential workforce doesn't fit with what the economy and society require are one thing, and the ...
  • David Raw
    Very sorry to mention this, but I'm old enough to remember when Rumswoth in Bolton West had a a Liberal M.P. (my late friend Arthur Holt). But now, sadly, in a ...
  • Peter Wrigley
    Here's an extract from a Jonathan Liew article in today's Guardian (4th August): " . . .[W]hat if migration is only a problem to those who want it to be? Wh...