Emily B

On Friday with @UKParlEducation the Society welcomed over 100 students in person and thousands online to the historic @StMarysPutney for a special Learn with the Lords question time event. Stay tuned for photos and the recording link!

🚨🚨🚨 OUT TODAY 🚨🚨🚨 A new report from Constitution Society research fellow Dr David Klemperer argues compulsory voting is the best method to improve turnout and rescue UK democracy. consoc.org.uk/publications/u… [...]

🎓A reminder that the Constitution Society's Teacher Poster Pack 2025 is free to download and contains A3 posters for classrooms on Parliament, Human Rights Act & Rule of Law. consoc.org.uk/publications/c… #EducationResources

On the blog this week @emilyboard highlights some of the key findings of her report on constitutional literacy in English schools. Read it now at: consoc.org.uk/teaching-and-l…

🚨🚨🚨Out today: A new report from Society Research Fellow Emily Board (@emilyboard) warns that constitutional literacy is 'woefully neglected' in schools ahead of the introduction of votes at 16. 🚨🚨🚨 Read it now at: consoc.org.uk/publications/b…

Are you a teacher in England interested in political literacy in schools? If so, please fill out our survey which will help our submission to the government's curriculum and assessment review. Please share widely! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

'A curriculum and assessment review can achieve valuable shifts and avoid predictable disasters. Here are my four best bets for doing so' 💬 @Counsell_C | #TheCurriculumConversation buff.ly/402jJF0

It's been 25 years since "The West Wing" captured hearts and made the jobs of those of us who work in Washington look glamorous. Cast members @marycmccormack @maffyfitz join @InsidePolitics to talk about #WHATSNEXTBOOK and the show's legacy.

Must watch on House of Commons reform @EllieChowns Dr Ellie Chowns, "As a newly elected member, I'd like to offer observations on three elements on how this house operates: sitting, speaking and voting" ➡️ Sitting - Chamber is too small - In Council and in European parliament we had own seat, desk, plug in devices - Extraordinary there aren't enough seats for every MP There is a practice of Christian prayers, as a daughter of preachers I am familiar with this. But in this day and age where we are a mix of all faiths and none, it might be time to represent a range of faiths ➡️ Speaking - If we have more time limits more MPs would be incentivised to speak - Trying to get a slot, bobbing up and down, last week I did for five solid hours without getting attention of the speaker - This is not good for a democracy - Find a better way of allocating speaking time - The culture in this house is everything from excessive deference to braying, we need to clean to clean up politics, we are here to debate in as positive a spirit as possible ➡️ Voting - It's extraordinary we do not have electronic voting - While I've been here I've participated in 5 votes, that's taken 1.25 quarter - If you add up all the votes thats 1.5 months of MPs time, totally unproductive - If we got rid of the voting lobbies we could double the physical size of the chamber (everyone could then have a seat) "My final point, if we want to be a truly modern house of commons: proportional representation"