Keep in touch
Follow the i journalists on our Twitter list
Braving the deep water
Wild swimming enthusiast Matt Barr takes on the tide in a notorious Scottish whirlpool at Corryvreckan
Subscribe to the i print edition - or on iPad
i is available on PRINT subscription or on our iPAD APP at just £45 for twelve months
Today's letter from the Editor
Today's Matrices
i Editor's Letter: Let's put meaning back into our so-called political debate
I never write about PMQs. What’s the point? Unlike most of us here at i Towers, with televisions permanently set to Sky News, you are far too busy for the weekly shambles that passes for accountable democracy in action. “Members mustn’t shout at the tops of their voices at the Prime Minister,” shouted John Bercow, the Speaker, yet again amid the braying cacophany yesterday.
He is right, but, when you actually hear what the PM and the rest have to say, it is usually enough to make you wish you hadn’t tuned in, just this one last time.
This is not anti-Cameron. It was no more enlightening under Blair or Brown, nor will it be so if Miliband or May stand there. Notwithstanding, yesterday we heard our “tough on bankers” PM, defend them; the “all in this together” leader dance on a pin head to avoid calling the heinous “bedroom tax” what it is; and use the tired, increasingly lame device of blaming the previous Labour government for today’s mess.
The opposition is no better. All positions are pre-ordained of course, and there is never genuine debate. From Ed Balls down, they help turn PMQs into a circus that only contrives to turn potential voters off, particularly the young, themselves constantly admonished to grow up to be polite and respectful. But when the young lapse into boorishness they are called "yobs". Not MPs.
We can let this sorry situation continue inexorably until a UK Beppe Grillo wins a third of our votes. Or a cross-media, cross-bench movement should be born to put some unfashionably earnest meaning back into our so-called political debate.
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Visit York
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Making reading fun for kids
Nook is donating eReaders to volunteers at high-need schools and participating in exclusive events throughout the campaign.
Introducing the 'Get Reading' campaign
Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
Johnny Marr talks relationships and reunions
In pictures: After the flood
Death becomes her: A very modern mortician
School of chop: Learning the art of butchery
The man who's eaten everywhere
A Berliner in 1963 – but did John F Kennedy once admire Adolf Hitler?
