In the United Kingdom, any person wishing to stand for Parliament must be at least 18 years old… or at least, this is what the rules state.  Anyone would think however, that in fact the rules were that candidates had to be younger than 18 years of age in order to stand.

This week saw yet another example of the boorish and childish behaviour of members of the British Parliament in their puerile attempts to stifle debate by jeering and barracking each other whenever they try to speak.

In Prime Minister’s Questions today (March 16th) the House of Commons started by welcoming visiting parliamentarians from Ukraine – a country currently suffering an invasion by Russian forces.  What followed was nothing but sheer embarrassment as members on both sides of the House barracked and booed each other – often even before a member had opened their mouth.  The Deputy Leader of of Labour Angela Raynor, accused the Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “going cap in hand” to Saudi Arabia, and then childishly accusing them of being ‘beggars’, whilst the Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab answered questions about fuel security by criticising Ms Raynor’s words from some 12 years previously.

It quite frankly beggar’s belief that elected representatives in a ‘democracy’ can sit in a debating chamber and behave like infants… Are these people so caught-up in their own little world that they cannot see the ridiculousness of metaphorically ‘sticking out their tongues’ during a debate about democracy…  democracy!!  Yes, these ‘honourable members’ were asking and responding to questions about democracy and probity, and they clearly believe that this is best achieved with slurs, lies and insults.

Have they no shame? Have they not the slightest bit of self-awareness?  Perhaps ‘members’ is an appropriate epithet after all?