Parliament U.S-style

...U.S...

...What is in the minds of those recent elections seems to suggest that people are not much drafting the proposals is the recognition that, as things are more interested in the fundamental reforms, such as the intronow, Parliamentary democracy is largely a sham...

...Congress, it is perhaps worth outlining the government's The U.S...

...There is not an ounce of kind- to include the present writer-has gradu- pacity for inventing, or resurrecting, ness, sympathy, or generosity in it...

...However, all these are technicalities: the real objections lie The idea, then, is to form "select committees" of M.P.s deeper...

...He has been less thodoxy...

...There is certainly some substance in this criticism departments...

...In the early 1960s he ception and humor, yes, but nothing sof- among the writers about writers quite dif- took a Southern colloquialism-"good ter...

...It will take otherwise opposed figures as Enoch Powell on the Right and more than these reforms of Parliamentary procedure to conMichael Foot on the Left) will alter the fact that, as it now vince the people that M.P.s are much more than (in W. S. stands, Parliament is not widely respected or regarded in the Gilbert's words) a lot of dull chaps in close proximity, or that country, as the bastion of liberty or the guarantee of good the prospect of each one thinking for...

...this be compatible with that of a mastery of administrative Well, the reasons are complicated and various...

...Many of them are only in junior jobs: neverthepushing since 1972, died in the House Judiciary Committee in less, they are bound by the doctrine of collective government 1978, but bill 1129 stands a better chance of passage...

...However, the bill has thus far been "ombudsman" -despite the fact that the latter can only -work blocked by Cdtigressmen close to the Defense Department, on cases brought by M.P...

...Even his role as watchdog and advocate for his Medical Association, whose members have treated the local own constituents, in their disputes with the state, has been Hibakusha populations, and finally by the American Medical somewhat diminished by the introduction of the Association in 1978...

...Per- ally elicited a degree of resentment phrases which stick...

...Wolfe has a cable book...

...then they were in "Queen Victoria's golden days" when 12 October 1979: 549 Every boy and every gal looks into government expenditure: doubtless it is this experiThat's born into the world alive ence which has led to the precise form of the present propoIs either a little Liberal sals...

...Captain Astronaut...

...The committees Commons...

...government as a whole, under the headship of the Prime They will of their very nature tend to be tedious matters of Minister, and this would be weakened if the committees were detail: hardly of sufficient general importance to warrant more able, even against the wishes of the Prime Minister, to demand than a token public presence...

...The method of appointing the members of the various however, is that which quite simply sees it as removing some committees is open to the criticism that nobody who is going to of the traditional freedom and sovereignty of the House of be really "difficult" is likely to be chosen...

...This would make COMMITTEES COME TO WESTMINSTER impossible insurance against future radiation release from nuclear misfortunes such as Three Mile Island...

...whittled away by various factors, until his role has become The Roybal bill has been backed by the entire medical largely that of voting for whatever his party in Parliament tells community, first by the Los Angeles County and California him to vote for...

...Any senior civil and to summon civil servants to appear before them to explain servant, it is said, would naturally try to cultivate good relahow and why things are being done as they are...

...They will then tions with the committee members...

...make things worse...

...true, one, got imaginative hold of the horror which cause he is too superficial to care, what it suspects, but harsh...

...Is it not the House of Commons itself, in open themselves will be appointed by a selection committee which debate, which is the safeguard of liberty over against the state...

...He is de- dazzled by the astronaut aura, nor does to the pilots which Wolfe had in mind as scribed, and in the end dismissed, as a he quite reach full throttle with the vanity he described their bravery and skill, but raw exploiter of his material, a kind of of the wives in their role as The Honora- the shrill fury of all those people-by that literary robber baron, who casts the husk ble Mrs...

...Another bone of contention arises from the re- when one sees how little time the government is proposing to fusal of the government, in putting forward its ideas, to give to the debating of the reports of the various committees, countenance giving the committees subpoena powers over on the floor of the House itself...

...elected representatives of the people will regain some of their Another danger is that the development of the committees power over the executive, and democracy will be at least partly will create two classes of M.P.s: those who are "in the know" restored...

...These committees will be able to ask for papers, department they are supposed to criticize...

...Wilson, in connection with the one existing committee which However, the ultimate reason and justification for the reCommonweal: 550 forms I have been discussing is the revival of democratic about it...

...The man is so funny he makes you weep...

...If the committee members were The idea seems obvious...

...On the other hand, the fate of the Liberal party in Parliamentary politics itself...

...The Hibakusha may also find it difficult Parliamentary procedure this century...

...I suspect he's a rising to the occasion...

...But ing conceded that, reviewers turn cool, man, the funniest American writer the argument would be purely rhetorical...

...citizens and permanent residents proportion of M.P.s-perhaps about a hundred altogether at who were injured by the atomic bombings...

...if he'd been writtuosity had to do with it...

...and suggest there's no weight to the felsince Mark Twain, and the author of the Wolfe doesn't seem to have written a low, The Right Stuff is a good read but of only book about the space program generous word in his life...

...than as opponents whose job was to raise awkward questions...

...for Wolfe, must shrink inside when they post-Vietnam-Watergate liberal orno writer provides better value for the read about themselves...

...STEPHEN SALOFF No man can face with equanimity .. . (Stephen Saloff based this article on interviews carried out Nevertheless it seems to be generally agreed by those with long with the principals in the campaign for government-sponsored experience in Parliament that things nowadays are a lot worse medical care for nuclear explosion survivors...

...What he's like no consequence, Wolfe is incapable of which grasps just how little technical vir- as a man I can't say...

...One long scatological passage in The Right Stuff, a description of Pete Conrad duckwalking WOLFS IN ORBIT to the men's room after a barium enema, rises to a comic intensity unequaled by OUR MERCURIAL INTERESTS Rabelais...

...But it's a time very numerous-who had finally aside without etver bothering to say, be- withering portrait all the same...

...He will not go easy on doubtless cooked more than one dinner his way to poke a stick in the eye of the reader...

...Of course, this is not a new conception after-effects of the A-bombings create a special complex of of Parliament...

...Or else a little Conservative...

...You can be sure it wasn't justice ally know what he's about...

...This ings may not be intentional, but will surely be inevitable in problem has already arisen in the recent past, under Harold practice...

...Hence, it is said, ultimately the party groups upstairs is a dangerous procedure...

...government, which voted against this resolution and suggestions for American readers...

...Since it has been said that the idea is to develop November 24, 1961 that the use of nuclear weapons is a committees on the analogy of those which already exist in the violation of international law and a crime against humanity...

...Wolfe is unique, but havtions: Tom Wolfe is a serious need for a pat on the back from him...

...W. S. Gilbert expressed it, immortally, nearly a "unprecedented difficulties in maintaining and rebuilding century ago: the lives of the Hibakusha, which distinguish them from the When in that house M.P.s divide, rehabilitation problems faced by victims of non-atomic war...

...himself is anything other government...

...The wives of This is a grudging reaction, but Wolfe the rigor of Wolfe's pride is generally the Mercury astronauts in particular, who has certainly invited it...

...The than ferocious where they are concerned...

...Predecessor any one time, out of the six-hundred-plus total-are in the Hibakusha aid legislation, which Roybal has been patiently government...

...If they've a brain and cerebellum, too, The obligation which many now feel to aid the Hibakusha They've got to leave their brains outside suggests a more general obligation of the United States to And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to...

...The capacity of British state institutions to absorb "grill" those responsible for policy or administration, and to and stifle criticism by inserting a sort of social cotton wool into make them justify their actions publicly...

...Wolfe might argue-he never ferent from the enthusiasm which wel- of boys--and gave it a national curwould, but he might-that the first seven comed Wolfe's first book nearly fifteen rency...

...Roybal has informed me that 30-40 percent of the Judiciary The job of, the back-bencher, in recent years, has been Committee now favors his measure...

...The semi-secrecy of the proceedof a particular minister that he appear before them...

...There are detail which is part of the rationale of the whole exercise...

...This harshness, coupled with a certain ground...

...However much M.P.s can say, in the end they will then also seek grounds to demand financial compensation...

...accept both the 1961 United Nations resolution outlawing But then the prospect of a lot nuclear war, and belated responsibility for the human and Of dull MPs in close proximity environmental destruction caused by the blast, burn and All thinking for themselves is what radioactivity of nuclear weapons...

...bombing North Vietnam, a few years result is that feviewers who ought to He does not actually name the astronauts ago, was a breathtaking exercise in perknow better conclude Wolfe doesn't re- who went a bit wild with all the girls versity...

...One has to remember that a fair medical coverage to U.S...

...One interesting comment, which I heard from a senior (each one consisting of perhaps nine M.P.s) to watch over, or civil servant, was that oddly enough the committees might "shadow" the workings of each of the main government become too "friendly," and not critical enough, towards the, departments...

...He's gone out of misunderstood...

...the workings of Parliament can make people feel differently BRIAN WICKER Of several minds: Thomas Powers have resisted his manic flights...

...The rationale of this proposal seems clear enough...

...The To have a powerful Parliamentary committee on one's sideamount of legislation, and the complexity of government ma- say in a battle for resources -would be an enormous fillip to chinery, is nowadays such that its details cannot possibly be any department of state...

...government's floor-manager) when he announced the new The" United Nations General Assembly resolved on proposals...

...over the executive and the civil service...

...but merciless results in print...

...on society, and the widespread social nexus of education, class the floor of the House of Commons...

...contracts disallows claims resulting from "war injury," which would include the many radiation and other A-bomb afflic- Report from Britain tions in the Hibakusha of 1945...

...Why then the fuss...

...responsibility...

...The committees will not be able to compel govern- Parliamentary procedure as a whole, it is hardly possible to ment ministers to give evidence before them-on the grounds envisage the investigations of the committees ever becoming that there is a collective responsibility on the part of the interesting enough to engage the enthusiasm of the media...

...has opposed subsequent attempts to withdraw legitimacy from It should be said at the outset that the suggestions are not just nuclear war,, denies any ethical or legal liability for the sur- those of the new Conservative government...

...No amount duction of proportional representation into the electoral system of belief in the sheer power of oratory (a belief shared by such itself, which might be expected to do the job better...

...There is neither the time and outlook that is shared between senior civil servants and a nor the expertise to do this job properly, except through the large number of M.P.s, this must be counted as a real danger...

...Parliament, it is widely which clearly fears that if 1129 is enacted, victims of past (or felt, has become nothing more than a talking shop and a future) "conventional" wars (such as Indochina and Korea) rubber-stamp...

...They result from vivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic disasters, and the an all-party Parliamentary investigation into the best way of thermonuclear fallout calamity at the Bikini Atoll in March reasserting the power of the elected members of Parliament 1954...

...will itself be the product of bargaining and agreement between To siphon off much of this function into little, semi-secret the main party machines...

...And given the nature of British understood, let alone profitably criticized by every M.P...

...The extent to which anemia or more serious blood diseases, such as THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT is currently considering a proleukemia, which debilitate the Hibakusha, are insurable with posal which is arguably the most important reform in Blue Cross is unclear...

...What guarantee is machines will remain in control...

...At the conclusion of that passage Queen Victoria would have required LET ME BEGIN with a few bald asser- critical emotional assent they have no smelling salts...

...that good stories are told, not found...

...development of specialist groups...

...This bill would extend limited members of the government...

...That is essentially what the How will the M.P.s be able to guard themselves against this committees will be, groups of specialists in the various areas of danger-especially if it is true that the really "awkward" or government activity, who can give the time, and have the "bolshie" M.P.s-are likely to be left out of the committee background, to master the complexities and to report neces- structures by the very process of appointment that is sary criticisms to their fellow members...

...And given the present state of ministers...

...But would Foot) to be against them...

...Nobody denies that Wolfe is bedevil social historians for a long time gram were so engulfed by teary and un- funny...

...The Me Decade" is going to astronauts chosen for the Mercury pro- years ago...

...Representatives in January 1979 by Congressman Edward ("Back-benchers" are those M.P.s who are not, formally, Roybal (D., Los Angeles...

...In fact, Blue Cross specifically absolves itself of claims resulting from "atomic explosion or other release of nuclear energy" occurring after the PARLIAMENT U.S: STYLE effective date of the insurance agreement...

...In this way, the the system, is well known...

...The same might be said of As a writer Wolfe does not have a aloof pugnacity toward all that is sacred Wolfe's article on "The Me Decade," likable persona, and The Right Stuff (Far- to the right-thinking, socially earnest lib- which cast the 1970s as a time of hisrar, Straus, Giroux, $12.95) is not a lika- eral intelligentsia_a class broad enough trionic self-absorption...

...But presumably, it could be countered by a fairly most jealous of the privileges of Parliament (like Michael rapid turn-over of membership on a rotation basis...

...At least, that is to obtain, through Blue Cross, Medicare and medical insur- how it was presented by the "Leader of the House" (i.e., the ance policies, the preventive medicine they require...

...This would certainly be damaging if it How is it possible for some members, including some of those happened...

...The "back-bench" Despite thisa priori legal-political barrier, an Atomic Bomb M.P., it is generally agreed, has become less and less imporSurvivors Bill (HR 1129) was introduced in the House of tant in the last thirty years, except as "lobby-fodder...

...It's well-known decent fellow, and that his subjects have ing about Columbus instead, the book that Wolfe's eye is wicked, and his artis- a terrible time trying to square the would have been filled with Italian try is recognized by everyone who knows warmth of his interest as a man with the dialect jokes...

...But it is a moot question how far tinkerings with than a challenge to our national equanimity...

...just have to file into the "yes" or "no" lobbies according to Medical relief advocates have countered that the damage and the wishes of the whips...

...was the pilot's gift to the people on the means...

...They will be able to suggested...

...Not even Queen Victoria could to come...

...One piece about Navy pilots money, but Wolfe will not explain...

...And the need for some reassertion actually paid for the extra work they will have to do, this would of democratic power is generally accepted...

...He will dazzle and entertain...

...some fairly simple technical objections to the proposals as they Perhaps the most far-reaching criticism of the proposals, stand...

...Christopher Lasch was only the 12 October 1979: 551...

...and those who are not...

...Again, the size of the com- there that the results of such investigations, held necessarily mittees is said by some to be far too small for the members of it out of the limelight, will ever be fully debated by the House as to be able to cope with the work of the larger government a whole...

...He would hope to see them report their findings to Parliament as a whole, so that these can as friends, ready and willing to defend his own empire, rather be discussed and, if necessary, action can be taken...

...s themselves...