Hello again mates!

Basic facts you should know about me. I enjoy politics, everything from live debates to internet forums. So I signed up for the political/law class. The name of the professor was Daniel Jaws. He was strict gentleman that valued the rules. He said a civilization without rules was no civilization at all.  During his semester we learned about the British government and law. He started the semester with a trip to the British parliament.

The trip to the British parliament was a good way to get to know another. MR Daniel assigned us to a travel buddy. My buddy went by the name of  Kenny even tho he was Chinese, he was a skinny Asian boy, and his favorite subjects were math and international law. Kenny told me that his father worked as a businessman. He told me that he wanted to be the next Bill Gates.

When we first arrived to the British parliament, we met our guide. The tour guide was a middle-aged man with a strange tie, his name was Mr.Snape. He explained the British political system and told us  everything that we needed to know for our quiz on politics in the UK . The first stop on our  tour was to talk with the government officials they told us the following about executive branch of the British government.

The government runs the country. It has responsibility for developing and implementing policy and for drafting laws. It is also known as the Executive.

The parliament is the highest legislative authority in the UK. It has responsibility for checking the work of government and examining, debating and approving new laws. It is also known as the Legislature.

The political party that wins the most seats in a general election forms the new government, led by their party leader - who becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister appoints ministers, including the Cabinet, who often work in a government department, and run and develop public services and policies.

Government ministers are chosen from MPs and Lords in Parliament. Your MP may be a member of the party forming the current Government, but it doesn't necessarily mean they are working 'in government'. Ministers must regularly respond to oral and written questions from MPs and Lords.

Parliament checks the work of the government on behalf of UK citizens through investigative select committees and by asking government ministers questions. The House of Commons also has to approve proposals for government taxes and spending.

Each year the government informs Parliament of its plans for new legislation in the Queen's Speech. New legislation is usually introduced in the form of a Bill that must be debated and approved by Parliament before it can become an Act of Parliament - the government needs the support of the majority of the House of Commons to function.

We returned to Oxford at about 7pm after a long day at the British parliament. The next morning our English teacher gave us a new assignment to read a novel. 

We often described our English teacher as an old woman. Her name didn’t really help her either. Her name was MS Longbottom. She was strict, we used to say that she ruled the classroom with an iron-fist. Every other week she told us to start reading novels, and the first one we read was “Pillars of the earth”.  By Ken Follett, our task was to connect the dots between the modern British society and the middle of the 12th century culturally and historically.

Sources;

Read 20^th March 2014 the British parliament:   http://www.parliament.uk/

Read 20^th March 2014 Pillars of the earth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth

Read 19^th of March the British parliament:

 http://ndla.no/en/node/2557

Picture source pillars of the earth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PillarsOfTheEarth.jpg

Picture source British parliament : http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2011/04/11/the-sovereignty-of-parliament-and-property-this-weeks-human-rights-roundup/