Brits only please ;)

[Peikko 1,575]

As a nation, Britain is famously dissatisfied with its elected politicians. The House of Commons is widely admired as THE cradle of democratic politics, yet its denizens were already regarded with deep scepticism even before the public outcry this year over their expenses claims. The scandal blew up about a year before Britain is due to go to the polls for a general election that is widely expected to see the biggest shake-up among the ranks of MPs since 1997, when 178 Conservative MPs were swept away by New Labour’s landslide victory. This time, a large number of sitting MPs have already made clear their intention to leave Parliament at the next election and many others will take their chances with the electorate. Whatever the outcome, we can expect to see a great many new faces on the House of Commons benches when the new Parliament convenes.

But what should we be looking for in the people we elect to run the country? The question of what knowledge and expertise the ideal MP should possess is not much debated. So FT Weekend invited 20 experts in various fields to come up with questions that – in their opinion – any would-be MP should be able to answer. This exercise throws up an obvious problem right away: the areas of knowledge that our questioners address are so disparate that no normal person could reasonably be expected to answer all 20 of the questions.

Some might know what the defence budget was as a percentage of gross domestic product in 1997 and 2009, but could they also explain the importance of Speaker Lenthall? Or the price of a large sliced loaf of bread?

That’s the point: we all want people of exceptional talent to come forward for public office. But are we doomed to disappointment because we have set our sights too high? As Norman Lamont, one of our questioners, points out: “It is unreasonable to expect MPs or candidates to be equally knowledgeable on all subjects. Would you expect someone whose main interest is the NHS to know all the stats relating to the Budget?”

Yet an MP is required to vote on all manner of issues, ranging from dangerous dogs to regulation of the internet and invasions of far-off countries. We expect an MP to know his constituency like the back of his hand – but also to have a firm grasp of international affairs. He or she must be blessed with huge knowledge, yet wear it lightly.

And is knowledge the most important quality anyway? Camila Batmanghelidjh, director and founder of the charity Kids Company, believes MPs rely too much on theory at the expense of experience. “They have knowledge of the world from a policy-thinker’s viewpoint, often not from the point of view of people who are living in the circumstances which are casually intellectualised in politics,” she says.

She may well be right. In any case, we hope the exercise will prove a thought-provoking test of FT readers’ knowledge and capacity for lateral thinking.

Link

The questions are in the link - anyone qualify?

Edited November 13, 2009 by Madame Cleo

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[Peikko 1,575]

Go away.

On second thoughts, come up with 20 questions for US political candidates what would test their acumen.

1)

State your name, age and shoe size.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I have to say the photos of those people are rather disturbing.