Did they? When? I recall Nick Clegg and David Cameron announcing the coalition without any consultation of the back-benchers. Did I miss a day's news?
The two parties work in rather different ways. Under Liberal Democrat rules, Clegg had to get authorisation from a meeting of the whole parliamentary party, then from the party's national executive, and finally from a special conference held in Birmingham over the second weekend after the election. Under Conservative rules, Cameron made his decision and that was all that was necessary.
In my last job, the IT team of two developers and a sysadmin reported to the IT Director. He was quite clearly a Director insofar as he owned 40% of the company and was legally liable for its actions, regardless of the number of people reporting to him. He was a Director from the day he and his two partners set up a limited liability company, even if at the time he was the sole developer.
It is not a computer for many reasons, [...] you cannot print from it.
Well that's Colossus buggered then.
It's Wash-up. Parliament is prorogued for the election at the end of today's proceedings. At this point the only things that can get through are those where the opposition agrees to let them through without spending time debating them. The Tories could have stopped this dead simply by insisting on debating any part of it, instead of just letting it through.
This way they get a bill they might have liked, with the side-benefit of being able to blame the other side when anybody objects to it.
I can already do that with a laptop, so that has to be qualified with "and I don't want to put such a strain on my knees". Sorry, not going to spend $500 for that.
I have 40-year-old knees which I hope to use for at least another 40 years. I may be prepared to spend $500 for that.
The BBC has announced there will be a fifith series of Doctor Who, although it won't be until 2010 and David Tennant is doubtful to reprise his role as the Time Lord.
"No matter where you go, there you are..." -- Buckaroo Banzai