Watching PMQ's

Went for supper at our NDP friends house last night and he put UK Parliamentary Question time on. I have been out of the UK a long time. How long has Gordon Brown had that dreadful stammer? Er, Er this and, and, and that. Brown looked like a man completely out of his depth and drowning.

The Labour back benchers questions were so obviously plants ('Does the Prime Minister not agree' type of question), and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats stood up and roundly castigated Brown for various failures. All denied with fudged figures of course, but Brown looked badly rattled. Funny thing though, the Tories were mostly mute in the ten minutes or so that we watched before my friend turned channels to an Olympic presentation at Ottawa. There the most contentious item was the proposal of a fitness regime for Federal MP's.

What a contrast. Harper looked confident and in control. At ease and relaxed, even though his majority is wafer thin. My friend as I've probably mentioned, doesn't like Stephen Harper. I've never been able to fathom out why, so there were a few tense moments in case the remote went flying at the screen while I kept my peace. Then we were treated to an interview with one of the Olympic Torch bearers, an 81 year old lady who won Canada's first Winter Gold medal for figure skating back in 1948 and thankfully the political temperature dropped. Phew.