I was very pleased to accept an invitation from the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament Alex Ferguson MSP to be a panel guest at this year’s Festival of Politics at an event held in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament on Friday 20 August, 2010. The event was a Question Time format on the subject “how politicians and political institutions are seeking to engage with the public, in an age of increasing political cynicism.”
The panel of guests lead by the Presiding Officer included Peter MacMahon, Assistant Editor, The Scotsman; Professor Charlie Jeffery, The Institute of Governance, Edinburgh University; YouGov’s President, Peter Kellner and myself representing Mr Speakers Panel of Chairs, House of Commons. The session was chaired by Dr Ruth Fox, Director, Parliament and Government Programme, Hansard Society.
It was similar to a TV question time format with the panel of guests seated in front of the Presiding Officer’s table with the audience sitting in the MSP seats in the chamber. The Chair Dr Ruth Fox began with a 30 minutes of questions amongst the panellists, covering the wide gambit of subjects, before throwing it open to the audience inviting comments and questions of the panellists. It was recorded on the Scottish Parliament’s webcast and can be viewed on the Parliament’s web site.
Festival of Politics 2010
Festival of Politics - 20 August, 2010.
I was very pleased to accept an invitation from the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament Alex Ferguson MSP to be a panel guest at this year’s Festival of Politics at an event held in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament on Friday 20 August, 2010. The event was a Question Time format on the subject “how politicians and political institutions are seeking to engage with the public, in an age of increasing political cynicism.”
The panel of guests lead by the Presiding Officer included Peter MacMahon, Assistant Editor, The Scotsman; Professor Charlie Jeffery, The Institute of Governance, Edinburgh University; YouGov’s President, Peter Kellner and myself representing Mr Speakers Panel of Chairs, House of Commons. The session was chaired by Dr Ruth Fox, Director, Parliament and Government Programme, Hansard Society.
It was similar to a TV question time format with the panel of guests seated in front of the Presiding Officer’s table with the audience sitting in the MSP seats in the chamber. The Chair Dr Ruth Fox began with a 30 minutes of questions amongst the panellists, covering the wide gambit of subjects, before throwing it open to the audience inviting comments and questions of the panellists. It was recorded on the Scottish Parliament’s webcast and can be viewed on the Parliament’s web site.