Empire to Democracy - The Role of Expertise in Government

Today we started in the imperial war musuem. I really enjoyed being there but felt we spent too much time there. While it was interesting to see the progression of war matietials and the effects of war throughout history I already knew a lot about the subject so I had a hard time staying involved.

The highlight for today was visiting with Lord Puttnam, this was freaking awesome! He had some really cool views on government and I learned a lot more about the House of Lords. He talked about the level of expertise in the House of Lords, and how this allows them to act as an advisor body to the House of Commons. I had never considered the application this might have on government. It means bills are written better with more consideration for previously laws and the implementation stage of law making. Lord Puttnam also had a very interesting view on education policy. He said we should never rely solely on experts in education. Experts in education are people who were successful with the current education system, you need to bring in those that failed to learn what parts of your system caused them to fail. If you don't fix the fundamental discrepancies then you can't expect your exterior improvements to make any difference. I really enjoyed talking with the lord, he opened my mind to the effectiveness of advisatory bodies and the way laws are implemented.

Tomorrow will be hectic and crazy! We start with seeing the queens precession down to Parliment. Then we will see her speach at the opening of Parliment. After a short lunch break we will then witness the opening debate at the opening of the House of Commons. After that we will meet with the shadow foreign secretary from the Labour Party. Post business we head of to west London for Jamie Oliver's Italian and a spot of theater. I'm dead excited for the day!

Night!

Matthew

Crazy weekend!

This weekend has been crazy fun and crazy exhausting. We toured the Parliment building, the Churchill war rooms, Windsor castle, and the London night life. This weekend also included lots of traditional British food, my first time clubbing, and an homage to the greatest band ever. Good food, lots of dancing, and mastering the tube system were some of the highlights.

Insights into this weekend-

I had a very interesting conversation with some of the other students about the division in the Republican Party back home. After asking my teacher what his opinion was he introduced the idea of a ideological split in party. A literal split, as in two new parties with a new dominate opponent of the Democratic Party coming out of the wood work. Very interesting. We then related this to British politics by bringing up the Labour Party. They face similar divisions in policy and image, and they seem to be headed toward either a split or the need for a massive overhaul of image. Very hard work lies ahead for them.

I'm noticing that the group is getting a little clickish. It's kind of annoying, but i also get the feeling it won't last long. I think most of us are just tired and need to catch up on sleep. Also, the UK is freaking expensive! Not only has food been more expensive then originally planned we also had to pay for train tickets and entrance fees I didn't expect. Also, for some reason rules on the road don't really exist here. Everyone j walks, like EVERYONE!

As a personal note, I'm reaching that point where I'm ready to move on from London. I've really enjoyed it here but I'm starting to feel myself become too used to the place. Also I don't really like my hotel room. It's small and incredibly hot! I'm also really tired and need to stay on top of these posting more.

Hopefully tomorrow!

History and empire pics

H