There are few programs on television that I enjoy more than C-SPAN’s airing of the British House of Commons and the Prime Minister’s Questions. I love the exchanges between the Prime Minister and the leaders of the opposition parties. The fact that the leader of the nation is forced to weekly defend his actions before the members of parliament is healthy for democracy. I think people in both parties in our nation could agree that our presidency has become enclosed in a bubble from which the president reads from teleprompters and only holds occasional press conferences in which he decides what reporters to call upon. Would we not be better off if we had this sort of direct exchange in our system, too?

C-SPAN airs these segments live early each Wednesday morning and rebroadcasts them on Sunday evenings. I have posted above the most recent exchange last week between the beleaguered and failing Gordon Brown and the Tory leader, David Cameron. Labour has suffered a series of embarrassing gaffes and defeats of late and all polls indicate that the Conservatives are set to win back their majority for the first time since 1997. Brown has now even had members of his own cabinet publicly distance themselves from him. The exchange between Brown and Cameron this week is great political theatre. Watching them volley back and forth from their respective dispatch boxes is politics at its best. Enjoy.