Last week, 8 Politics students from Year 12 were able to secure tickets to see Prime Minister’s Questions. Always a lively affair, this session was particularly heated with the debate focusing on the proposed NHS reforms. On several occasions the Speaker had to intervene to bring the House to ‘order, order’. Most sketch writers suggested that Miliband got the better of Cameron this week although what difference it will make to his electoral prospects or indeed to the passage of the Bill only time will tell. Wycliffe were most grateful to Duncan Robertson (OW and ex Politics student of Mr Woolley’s) who is now working for a government think tank and came up trumps with the tickets in the nick of time.
After listening to a 10 minute rule bill and part of an Opposition Day, the students broke for lunch before heading over Parliament Green to the UK Supreme Court. Again we were very lucky in being able to access No. 1 court to attempt to make sense of an incredibly complex tax case involving the Inland Revenue. It was also a chance to tour this relatively new institution and will help the students visualise what has now become a central part of their syllabus.