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Sony's PlayStation Meeting and PlayStation 4 reveal were nothing if not comprehensive. The two-hour coming-out party for the next generation of PlayStation hardware put recent E3 press conferences to shame and treated gamers to a detailed, thrilling look at games and features just around the corner.
Still, Sony's reveal left some wanting: no physical hardware was shown and a whole host of questions have yet to be answered. The PSU staff compiled 10 such questions, and I took a stab at fleshing out each of them. We can't promise you concrete answers in this article, but we can promise a glimpse of burning questions that Sony needs to answer in the coming months. Let's get started:
1. Will PS4 look similar in design to PS3, or will Sony opt for a brand new look?
The fact that Sony didn't show the physical PS4 console left some critics pining for more. I don't give this absence the same importance as others, but I am curious to see what the next evolution in Sony hardware looks like. At the PS2's launch, black was the new grey. Then came the PS3 to usher in the era of glossy electronics. Game consoles don't follow trends; they set them. Black or white, tall or fat - the look of PlayStation 4 will be talked about and dissected for months to come. Hopefully, the look won't define the system; I'd hate to be retiring my "Fat PS4" five or six years from now.
2. How much will PS4 cost?
This is a biggie, as the stickiest sticking point for PS3's early days was its exorbitant price tag. $600 (hell, even $500 for the 20 GB model) crossed the line from 'bold' to 'foolish,' and everyone's wondering if Sony will make the same mistake twice. For this reason, I don't think there's a snowball's chance it will. It's reasonable to think that the PS4 could launch with two SKUs, one priced at $499, but anything more than $429 for the base model would be retail suicide.
3. Will the trophy system remain as is, or will it be enhanced in any way?
We caught a glimpse of trophies in screenshots of the new PlayStation Store during Sony's PS4 reveal. Seemingly, things haven't changed much. Bronze trophies, Silvers, Golds, and Platinums - it's all there, but with PS4's OS looking more and more like a gaming social network, we expect that viewing your trophies and comparing them to your friends' will be easier than ever. Any improvements to the system will surely be subtle; automatic syncing of every trophy as it pops comes to mind. If anything, changes to trophies as we know them will come through streaming - peep in on your friend's game session to see how a certain trophy is won, or save clips of your favorite accomplishments for the world to stand in awe of.
4. Will PSN downloads be speedier?
To some extent, download rates are tied to the ISP of a given user, but PS3 was (and is) notorious for under-performing in this regard. Still, there's reason for hope. Coupled with Gaikai's renowned streaming infrastructure and a modified PC architecture that simplifies programming tasks, PlayStation Network should be well-equipped for faster download speeds. Then again, it might not matter; Gaikai's streaming technology will let you instantly try any PSN game before you buy. Furthermore, the same tech will minimize the time it takes to jump into a game, streaming the opening moments while it downloads and installs in the background.
5. Will PS4 be region-free?
We sure hope so. Being able to play games from other regions opens the world and unites PlayStation gamers across borders and cultures. It also puts amazing experiences in our hands faster. However, there are sticking points to regional freedom. Some territories may hold issue with graphic content--violent, sexual, or otherwise--that is perfectly acceptable in other parts of the world. Furthermore, region-locking helps publishers manage and meet the incredible demand for high-profile releases, stifles importing, and keeps regional prices relevant. As some can attest, this isn't necessarily a good thing: video games and consoles are notoriously overpriced in some countries. In troubled financial times, paying reasonable prices is a high priority, and rightfully so.
6. How big will the hard drive(s) be?
This question walks hand-in-hand with the console's price. Charging more for bigger hard drives was commonplace this generation, and will likely continue to be, as downloadable games and multimedia content grab larger shares of storage space. Sony should aim high with the launch model and offer between 500 GB and 1 TB of space. Any less would seem like too small a jump up from PS3 standards; indeed, 500 GB PS3s have become the retail norm.
7. What other PS3 accessories, aside from the PS Move Wand and Navigation Controller, will be compatible?
Not many, I'd wager. Sony has spent time and money developing truly exceptional Bluetooth accessories, so it's a safe bet that your Pulse Wireless Headset will work with PS4. The same probably goes for Blu-Ray remotes and stereoscopic 3D glasses. There aren't many other official accessories to speak of (and you certainly won't be using your DualShock 3 with PS4), but the addition of a headset jack to every DualShock 4 will open up new options for listening and communicating while playing.
8. Will the PlayStation Camera's dual 1080p lenses enable full body motion tracking, like the Xbox Kinect's sensor?
This remains to be seen, for as much as we know about the PlayStation Camera (two 1080p cameras that can sense environmental depth and track the location of the DualShock 4), Sony has yet to explicitly state that it will accurately track body movements. If the Kinect sensor is capable of doing so, we can't imagine it would be difficult for the PlayStation Camera; the question is whether Sony cares. Kinect hasn't exactly been critically praised for its application to gaming, and in the wake of poor reception and sales for PlayStation Move, we imagine that Sony is hesitant to simply jump on motion-gaming bandwagons just because it can.
9. What will streaming services cost? Will we have to pay for PS3 games we already own?
Sony hasn't defined how PlayStation Plus will factor into PS4 moving forward, but I imagine that access to streaming will be somewhat tied to the premium service. It seems bearish to assume that Sony will charge you a service fee to stream PS4 and PS3 games to PS Vita, and the monthly addition of free PS3 games to the PS Plus Instant Game Collection opens the door for streaming to make Plus subscribers' lives easier. It's also perfectly reasonable to think that PSN games you already own--from PS1 and PS2 Classics to downloadable PS3 titles--might be streamed for free down the line. Still, I'd be shocked if a system is in place at launch to recognize any disc-based game you own and credit you for wanton streaming. The game in question would presumably need an associated digital version; besides, Sony hasn't exactly earned Western gamers' good will by failing to bring the UMD Passport program for the PlayStation Portable over from Japan.
10. And more streaming questions!
Can disc-based PS4 games be streamed to PS Vita, or will streaming only handle digital titles? Can we surf, browse, and play PS4 demos and games from the PS Vita browser, or will a Remote Play connection to PS4 be required? Will the PlayStation App on smartphones and tablets allow us to stream PS4 games anywhere, with the DualShock 4 serving as a Bluetooth accessory? Man, I hope so. Streaming is so new to console gaming, and, combined with Sony's mantra of social gaming and shared experiences, it makes for very nebulous territory. Here's hoping that Sony continues to offer specifics in the coming months, so the PS4 launch is plagued with as little confusion as possible.
Do you have other burning questions about PlayStation 4 not covered here? Did Sony's next-generation reveal impress you, or leave you wanting more? Sound off with your own questions in the comments below, and keep it here at PSU in the coming days, weeks, and months for everything PS4.


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|Florin Andrei <florin@xxxxxxx>
|Re: XFS "freezes" on AMD systems
|Vincent Janelle <random@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|Thu, 26 Sep 2002 17:01:46 -0400
|<15761.27018.659158.237109@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <20020925075844.GA26750@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <15762.6020.364002.585622@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <3D9239C1.2070704@xxxxxxxxxxx> <20020925185258.664fece3.random@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <1033072528.28775.54.camel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
thats mostly due to command queing.. Unless you're using relatively new ultra-160 drives, and a good controller its still possible fill up the command queue relatively quickly with modern systems.. There are also 'modern' IDE controllers out there like 3ware cards that fix quite a few issues like this (although they're primarily raid cards). Only reason why I use scsi over IDE in my *servers* is that the warranty and MTBF are usually 3 years or more, whereas on IDE they're 1 year. On 26 Sep 2002 13:35:28 -0700 Florin Andrei <florin@xxxxxxx> wrote: > He's right, but you're right too. :-) > A properly tuned IDE works fine usually. > However, all other things being equal, a disk connected via SCSI "feels" > faster than the same HDD gear connected via IDE. The reason being the > way SCSI talks with the rest of the system (lower CPU usage, etc). > > On Wed, 2002-09-25 at 15:52, Vincent Janelle wrote: > > irrelevant and flamebait. > > > > Proper tuning of DMA settings will help, as well as making sure that using > > the correct IDE driver is selected. > > > > hdparm -c1 -d1 -u1 /dev/hd[a,b,c,etc] will turn on 32bit write support, > > dma, and unmasked irq's. > > > > man hdparm of course before doing any of this, YMMV. > >
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subset: commoncrawl


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Muni Bonds Ease, Ending Long Winning Streak
A delayed Meredith Whitney Effect?
Dow Jones Newswires reports that muni bonds fell today — snapping an extraordinary winning streak that stretched back to mid-April. The decline comes a day after Ms. Whitney reiterated her grim views about the muni market in a WSJ opinion piece. The day of the piece, the market moved ahead in untroubled fashion.
"The day started out with selling pressure from hedge funds–major market supporters on the way up–which abated later in the day but which also was heavy enough to send 8-to-10-year munis 5 to 7 basis points higher in yield. Yields move inversely to price in bond markets.
"The 30-year muni was off only two basis points in yield, however, after Wednesday having reached its lowest ratio to comparable-maturity Treasury bonds in 12 months. This so-called muni-to-Treasury ratio gauges how much muni yields surpass or lag Treasurys and helps large market players make investment decisions."
The modest drop in prices probably means there's not much of a delayed MW Effect in the muni bond market. J.P. Morgan rebutted her views yesterday, as did Ed Yardeni, head of Yardeni Research. "[Meredith Whitney] still claims that defaults 'in a variety of forms by states and municipalities are already happening and more are inevitable.' I must have missed reading about them. They didn't come up in a Google search either."


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Thanks to everyone who answered our survey or sent in a tip. Everyone who called said that they have episodes 4 or more times a year. As for tips, one of our wonderful Certified Diabetes Educators, Ann Williams, has summarized a lot of good information about handling hypoglycemic episodes. If you think you could be at risk, it's important to have something with you that will begin to raise your blood sugar and correct the problem.
Suggestions: a few hard candies, glucose tablets, juice boxes or snack bars. And if you are going to be out or exercising, check your blood sugar and make sure you are aware that going too long without a meal or exerting yourself more than usual can push you into a low. Readers agreed that being aware, being prepared and knowing your own signs and symptoms can help minimize episodes.
You could have hypoglycemia:
• If you take insulin of any kind, OR
• If you take a medication that makes your pancreas produce extra insulin. If you take an oral medication and don't know whether it can give you hypoglycemia, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
Signs of hypoglycemia:
• Shaking
• Sweating
• Dizziness
• Hunger
• Headache
• Feeling anxious or nervous
• Moodiness, or sudden change in mood, expressing anger, defensiveness, or passivity
• Difficulty concentrating or speaking
If this happens to you, you should:
1. Check your blood sugar.
• If it is below 70 mg/dl, always treat for hypoglycemia.
• If it is below 100 and your symptoms are very uncomfortable, treat for hypoglycemia, but with less carbohydrate.
2. To treat your hypoglycemia, eat 15 grams of carbohydrate. A few good choices
• 3-4 glucose tablets (they are 4 grams of carbohydrate apiece);
• ½ cup fruit juice;
• ½ cup regular (not diet) soft drink;
• 1 cup milk;
• 5-6 pieces of hard candy;
• 1 tablespoon of sugar, honey, or regular syrup (not diet).
• Wait 15 minutes.
• Check your blood sugar again.
• If it's still low, eat 15 grams of carbohydrate again.
3. If a person with hypoglycemia is unconscious:
• Do NOT put liquid or solid foods into the person's mouth. This could make the person choke.
• If you have glucagon and you know how to use it, you can give a glucagon injection.
• If you have glucose gel, you can squirt that into the mouth near the cheek. It will be absorbed from the lining of the mouth, even if the person does not swallow it.
4. After the hypoglycemia is over, think about why it happened. Did you:
• Skip a meal?
• Eat less than usual?
• Exercise more than usual?
• Give yourself more insulin than you intended?
• Drink more alcohol than usual?
• Lose weight (a good thing!) and therefore need less medication?
If you cannot easily figure out why you had hypoglycemia, or you are having episodes frequently, talk it over with your doctor or diabetes educator.
In the next issue of the Voice, we will look at how family and friends help you manage your diabetes. If you have tips or stories about this, from spouses, parents, or your own perspective on what kinds of help you have found most useful, what you fight about, or what you wish others would do to help you, please call 1-800-581-4741 and select 3, or e-mail [email protected] You can also write to Elizabeth Lunt, Editor, Voice of the Diabetic, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, MD 21230.
We look forward to hearing from you and sharing your stories with our readers.


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Microsoft's Kinect motion controller is almost four months old at this point and continues to sell well in spite of completely lackluster support (so far) from game developers. Xbox 360 owners can hope that the Game Developer's Conference next month will reveal some new Kinect-enabled games in the works. Until then, the really interesting work is being done by hackers.
[ Get news and reviews on tech toys in ITworld's personal tech newsletter]
Barely a day goes by that one of the game blogs out there doesn't reveal a new and interesting project cobbled together from Kinect, a PC and possibly any of a number of other controllers or devices. Kinect + Wii Remote, Kinect + iPhone, Kinect + robotic flying machine... there're all kinds of crazy and interesting projects being worked on. All this with no support form Microsoft.
So imagine how the flood gates will open when Microsoft starts to cooperate with the hackers. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is on record as saying Kinect on PC will eventually be officially supported but we didn't know when. As of yesterday the window (no pun intended) has narrowed considerably. At Microsoft's TechForum, Craig Mundie (MS Chief Research and Strategy Officer) and Don Mattrick (President, MS Interactive Entertainment Business) announced that a non-commercial Windows Kinect SDK will be released in Spring 2011, with a commercial SDK to follow later. A post at The Official Microsoft Blog has some of the details. Spring 2011 sounds pretty good, but March 2011 sounds even better, and that's what VentureBeat is reporting. VB doesn't source its date but TechForum is attended by a small number of journalists and we'll assume VB had someone at the scene of the announcement. It's a shame that Microsoft has let the Kinect more-or-less wallow in its smallish selection of launch titles for four months, but for those of us watching our Kinect sensors gather dust, the release of the SDK for Windows can only be good news. I can't wait to see what the indie game community does with this thing on Windows!
Peter Smith writes about personal technology for ITworld. Follow him on Twitter @pasmith.


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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Reliever Kyle Farnsworth and second baseman-outfielder Kelly Johnson have finalized one-year contracts with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The team announced Tuesday that Farnsworth agreed to a base salary of $1.25 million for this season. The 36-year-old right-hander missed much of last season with an elbow strain sustained during spring training and wound up going 1-6 with a 4.00 ERA in 34 appearances for the Rays.
The 30-year-old Johnson batted .225 with 16 homers and 55 RBI for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012. He agreed to a $2.45 million, one-year deal that includes performance bonuses of $50,000 each for 550 and 600 plate appearances.
To clear room on the 40-man roster, infielders Reid Brignac and Elliot Johnson were designated for assignment.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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In NJ Area...expert at Liposculpture/fat Transfer? (photo)
- dana259
- Last updated: 4 years ago
I am looking for an dr skilled in liposculpture/fat transfer. would prefer to do mostly lipo of flanks, and outer thighs with just a small amount of fat transferred to butt for one flat area. I posted photos previously but will post them again. I work out and am not overweight, but can't seem to get rid of fat on outter thighs or build up my butt. thanks. also approx cost to accomplish what I want. I am on a tight budget.


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Taxanes in Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapies for Breast Cancer
Taxanes in Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapies for Breast Cancer
Two taxanes are currently available for the treatment of advanced breast cancerpaclitaxel (Taxol) and docetaxel (Taxotere). These agents have different and specific mechanisms of action, and this article will focus on the most extensively studied of them, paclitaxel. The observation that taxanes do not exhibit cross-resistance to doxorubicin (Adriamycin) underlies the international effort to bring them into the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting. The role of taxanes, and specifically paclitaxel, in the adjuvant setting follows logically from their demonstrated activity against metastatic disease and from their lack of cross-resistance to doxorubicin. In the original series of 25 patients treated by Holmes et al, all but two had received prior doxorubicin and six were considered to be doxorubicin-resistant.[1] two partial responses were observed in the doxorubicin-resistant patients.
In a phase II trial of heavily pretreated patients (median number of prior chemotherapy regimens 3; range 2-6), investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center gave 51 patients paclitaxel 200 mg/m² by 24-hour infusion every three weeks and observed a response rate of 28%.[2] The same investigators subsequently studied patients who had received only one prior chemotherapy regimen for metastatic disease. After administering paclitaxel at 250 mg/m² to these patients, they observed a response rate of 48%.[2] In both of these studies, previous resistance to anthracycline did not predict resistance to paclitaxel. As expected, in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic disease, an even higher response rate of 62% was achieved and prior use of adjuvant anthracycline therapy did not decrease the likelihood of a response.[3]
Other studies limited to patients with anthracycline-resistant disease have confirmed the lack of cross-resistance between the two drugs. Wilson et al treated 36 metastatic breast cancer patients who had progressed after treatment with an anthracycline with paclitaxel given as a 96-hour infusion at 140 mg/m². They observed a response rate of 48%.[4] Response rates ranging from 29% to 46% have been achieved in trials of docetaxel in patients with anthracycline-resistant disease.[5-7]
Taxanes as Adjuvant Therapy
Although adjuvant doxorubicin-based chemotherapy effectively cures approximately 20% to 35% of patients with micrometastases, most patients with micrometastatic disease after surgery eventually die of progressive breast cancer. The success of the current adjuvant regimens is thus tempered by the need for more effective regimens. This need, and the encouraging results observed in the setting of anthracycline-resistant metastatic disease, have resulted in high priority trials incorporating taxanes into adjuvant treatment regimens in North America and Europe.
One of the earliest trials to use paclitaxel in the adjuvant setting was conducted by Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). CALGB 9141 was designed as a pilot study to assess the feasibility of adding paclitaxel to dose- dense doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (doxorubicin 75 mg/m², cyclophosphamide 2,000 mg/m², given every three weeks). One hundred and seventy two node-positive patients received five cycles of AC (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) followed by paclitaxel 175 mg/m² every three weeks, for four cycles. Preliminary follow-up at a median of 2.4 years showed a relapse-free survival of 87%; for patients with 10 or more positive nodes, relapse-free survival was 72%.[8]
Other studies still undergoing accrual or in follow-up are listed in Table 1. As evidenced by the wide variety of regimens in Table 1, there are many possible ways of incorporating taxanes into existing adjuvant schedules.
Taxanes may be given concurrently or sequentially with doxorubicin. In addition, paclitaxel itself may be given in a variety of doses and schedules, as shown in Table 2. Although the results of recent adjuvant trials will not be available for several years, most investigators believe they will confirm the importance of including a taxane. it may, however, be many years before the optimal regimen is defined. It is possible that the best approach will be to administer a taxane in the neoadjuvant setting followed by an anthracycline-based adjuvant regimen.
Taxanes as Neoadjuvant Therapy
The administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to patients with breast cancer has been the standard of care for those with locally advanced disease (T3 or T4 tumors, or N2 or N3 nodes). At some institutions, additional chemotherapy is given following surgery. The advantages of neoadjuvant chemotherapy include the following:
1. Shrinking the tumor with chemotherapy before surgery may facilitate the removal of the tumor and permit breast-conserving surgery in patients with large tumors that would otherwise require mastectomy. The ability of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to permit breast conservation despite tumors initially too large has been well documented in clinical trials.[12]
2. Systemic chemotherapy is administered as soon as possible after diagnosis. This has a theoretical advantageIt may prevent the emergence of drug-resistant tumor clones.
There is evidence that some primary tumors elaborate substances that inhibit the vascularization and growth of micrometastases and that surgical removal of the tumor stimulates the growth of metastases.[13] Neoadjuvant therapy may treat micrometastases before removal of the primary tumor can stimulate their growth. Neoadjuvant therapy is given at a time when the tumors vascular bed is intact, allowing optimal drug delivery.
3. The response of the primary tumor to neoadjuvant chemotherapy can provide prognostic information. Studies have demonstrated that response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy predicts disease-free and overall survival.[14]
The results of NSABP Trial B18, comparing neoadjuvant AC (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide times four cycles) to adjuvant AC, were reported at the 1997 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). There was no difference in progression-free or overall survival between the two groups. In the neoadjuvant group, however, there was significant down-staging of tumors (a 37% increase in the incidence of pathologically negative nodes) and a substantially higher rate of breast conservation (67% vs 60% in the adjuvant group).[15]
Paclitaxel as Neoadjuvant Therapy
The Buzdar Trial
Although most trials of paclitaxel in early stage breast cancer have incorporated it into postsurgical adjuvant regimens for patients at high risk of recurrence, several investigators have studied paclitaxel in the neoadjuvant setting. Buzdar et al recently reported the results of a randomized trial comparing paclitaxel alone to FAC (fluorouracil[5-FU], Adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide [Cytoxan]) given as induction therapy to patients with operable breast cancer.[16] Paclitaxel was administered as a 24-hour infusion every three weeks at a dose of 250 mg/m². As shown in Table 3, no difference between the groups was observed in the amount of residual disease present, either in the breast or in the axilla, at the time of surgery.
Patients on the paclitaxel arm experienced significantly more febrile neutropenia (7/37 patients for paclitaxel, compared to 2/41 patients for FAC). A substantially lower incidence of neutropenia was observed in a small pilot trial of neoadjuvant therapy using the same paclitaxel dose given over three hours (grade 3 neutropenia seen in 7% of patients), reflecting the schedule dependency of paclitaxel-induced neutropenia.[17]
The New York University Trial
At New York University, we began a trial of neoadjuvant paclitaxel for patients with palpable T2 or T3 tumors, followed by surgery, adjuvant AC (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) and in appropriate cases, radiation therapy. Paclitaxel is given at 200 mg/m² over three hours every two weeks. Seven patients have entered the trial. although it is too early to draw conclusions about the overall efficacy of this regimen, the neoadjuvant treatment appears to be well tolerated and all patients have demonstrated a clinical response to paclitaxel.
The Gianni Trial
Other investigators are studying paclitaxel in combination with doxorubicin in the neoadjuvant setting. Based on their experience with metastatic disease, Gianni et al conducted a pilot trial of neoadjuvant paclitaxel and doxorubicin in women with tumors greater than 3 cm or tumors otherwise locally advanced. They administered doxorubicin 60 mg/m² and paclitaxel 200 mg/m² over three hours every three weeks for four to six cycles before surgery. Their preliminary findings are summarized in Table 4.[18] They observed grade IV neutropenia in 69% of patients, but it was of short duration and clinically manageable.
The Anelli Trial
Anelli et al have also reported on the use of combined paclitaxel and doxorubicin given neoadjuvantly. They treated 20 patients with stage IIIB breast cancer. The first 10 patients received doxorubicin 60 mg/m² and paclitaxel 135 mg/m²; the second 10 received 175 mg/m² of paclitaxel. Three cycles of therapy were given before surgery. Eighty percent of patients responded clinically, and a complete histologic response was seen in 20% of patients.[19]


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"...the real deal-the perfect balance of dedicated faculty, small class sizes, and a personal experience while still being afforded the opportunities of a large university. I found my perfect mix in Western's Accountancy Program!" -- Cory Gall, Accountancy Major
The Accountancy program provides students with the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to quickly enter - and be successful - in the accounting profession. Working with advanced computer software, writing reports and papers, and presenting individual and team projects are all included in the regular program of study of all WIU accountancy majors.
Employers of our graduates include RSM US LLP (formerly McGladrey), Deloitte, Caterpillar, Accenture, KPMG, Deere & Company, BDO Seidman, ADM, State Farm, Growmark, the FBI, the IRS, Ernst & Young, and others.
Possible Careers
- Accountant
- Auditor
- Chief Financial Officers
- Consultants
- Controllers
- Financial Analysts
- Financial Planner
- Forensic Accountant
- Fraud Investigator
- Business Forensic Investigator
- Managerial Accountants
- Tax Specialists
Why Choose Accountancy at WIU?
- Get a complete bachelors and masters in five years
- The College of Business and Technology is one of only 174 universities worldwide that maintains dual AACSB accreditation in both Business and Accounting
- WIU chapters of student organizations in Accountancy are nationally recognized in categories of excellence every year
- Our Graduates are consistently recruited by Caterpillar and John Deere
- Over 20 scholarships are awarded to accounting majors each year
Accountancy students and their faculty mentors get to know each other in an environment that encourages a spirit of cooperation and the sharing of information and knowledge.
Our Accountancy faculty is committed to excellence in teaching. With doctoral degrees from major universities, including the Universities of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Saint Louis and South Florida, most faculty are professionally certified and engaged in research, service, and professional interaction. They understand the challenges and tremendous opportunities that today's professional accountants face.
Students enrolled in the accountancy program who plan to take the CMA, CFE, or CPA examinations will have the opportunity to select from the following programs:
- The Bachelor of Business (120 s.h.) with an emphasis on Management Accounting and preparation for the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam and the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) exam.
- The Master of Accountancy (150 s.h.) with an emphasis in Public Accounting and preparation for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam.
The State of Illinois requires candidates for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination to have completed a bachelor's degree and a total of 150 semester hours of education. To enable students to sit for the CPA examination, the accountancy programs at WIU provide an opportunity to obtain an additional 30 hours beyond the Bachelor of Business in Accountancy through the Master of Accountancy degree program or Integrated Baccalaureate and Master's Degree Program.
Learn everything you need to know about sitting for the Uniform CPA Exam in Illinois. Download the Brochure here (pdf)
Some of Our Graduates
- Aaron Becker
- Craig Neader
At a Glance
- Degrees Available: Bachelor of Business, Master of Accountancy
- Minor Available? Yes
- Graduate Degree Available? Yes
- Campus: Macomb & Quad Cities
- Study Opportunities: GradTrac, Honors
Accounting & Finance
Stipes Hall 431
1 University Drive
Macomb, IL 61455-1390
Phone: (309) 298-1152
Fax: (309) 298-1039


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CamelBak Spark 10 LR Hydration Pack DetailsCamelbak's Spark 10 LR is a women's specific ultra-light lumbar reservoir pack for light and fast rides.
- Antidote Lumbar Reservoir with 1/4 turn - easy open/close cap
- lightweight fillport
- patented Big Bite Valve
- HydroGuard technology
- PureFlow tube
- easy-to-clean wide-mouth opening
- ultra-light materials
- helmet hook
- lumbar reservoir compression
- bike tool organizer pocket
- stretch overflow storage
- media pocket
- Velvetex lining
- helmet
- multi-tool
- CO2 pump & cartridges
- spare tube
- extra layer
- energy supplements
- phone
- wallet
- keys
|1 lb / 480 g
|450 cu in / 7.5 L
|Hydration Bladder or Bottle Included?
|2L Bladder
|Hydration Compatible
|Backpack Features
|Hydration Compatible, Hydration Reservoir Included, Top Loader
|40D Diamond Ripstop & 230D Taffeta, 210D Nylon with DWR + 1000 mm PU + Silicone
|Shipping Estimate
|Estimated Shipping: Same Day Shipping! Mon. - Fri. if ordered by 12 pm MST
Reviews For The CamelBak Spark 10 LR Hydration Pack
Q & A For The CamelBak Spark 10 LR Hydration Pack
Warranty & Returns
Money Back Guarantee
If you are not 100% satisfied with what you have purchased from CampSaver within 60 days of purchase, you can take advantage of our 60 Day No-Hassle Money Back Guarantee. What does that mean to you? We'll exchange your product for free or give you a full refund. You'll never be left regretting your purchase with CampSaver. We've got you covered.
Extended Return Policy
On top of our fantastic policies described above, CampSaver has a very liberal New/Unopened Return Policy. New, unused, and unopened products (excludes items from The Shed) may be returned to us at anytime, no questions asked. Any new/unopened item returned after 60 days will be issued store credit. We do not accept returns on used/opened products after 60 days. We do not accept returns on used weight bearing climbing gear, mounted skis or molded ski boots ever.
Fit Guarantee
All New Men's and Women's apparel and footwear (excludes items in the Shed) comes with what we like to call a Fit Guarantee. If the apparel/footwear you purchased does not fit comfortably and you'd like to exchange it for another size, we will cover not only the cost of the return shipping, but also shipping the replacement size. The Fit Guarantee only applies to shipping within the continental United States. At CampSaver you can buy with confidence that you will like what you buy, risk-free. Please allow 2 weeks for replacement item shipping.
All of the products we carry have a warranty which covers product defects. If you have any questions about the warranty on a given product, give us a call at 1-877-883-6276.


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Osceola Wisconsin Golf Courses
|Krooked Kreek Golf Course
Additional Golf Course Reviews:
|Currie Park Golf Course -- Good times had by all
|Review by: Daniel Makal
|Although Currie is not a long course, it does challenge the average golfer with elevated greens/fairways and guarded greens. Currie is a great place to play 18 holes of golf and is a true "Wisconsin" course. Great for working on your game without the huge price tag.
|From Wauwatosa, WI USA


text: I disagree - why not do full=y and save yourself the effort of having to do all the individual schemas and recreate all the users, roles, privileges, profiles, public synonyms, etc.? You say you would "simply recreate . . .", but it's not really so simple when you're working with large systems that have thousands of objects and users. I've done several upgrades from 8i to 10g using exp/imp with full=y and not had any problems. To see all the objects that are included only in a FULL export, see Table 19-3 here: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14215/exp_imp.htm#sthref2215 Regards, Brandon From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mercadante, Thomas F (LABOR) Why would you want to do an exp with full=Y? ________________________________ Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message or attachments hereto. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of this company shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.


text:
Articles with keyword "integration"
Massive Resistance in a Small Town
The long struggle for integration in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
From Slavery to Scottsboro
The Southern Humanities Media Fund helps chronicle the changing face of the region.
Racism to Redemption
A new film reveals George C. Wallace as a man who made a Faustian bargain for power but sought forgiveness at life's end.
The Evolution of Ole Miss
Fifty years ago, James Meredith integrated the University of Mississippi.


text:
I am a thin (5'3", 115 lb.) I'm 39 year old woman. I've always had bony ankles, and even though my weight has not changed in ten years, my neck has become, how shall I say?...thinner, I guess.
There is definition to it; depressions down along the windpipe. Can these hollowed out areas be filled in with Hyaluronic acid or Fat Transfer? Has that ever been done in the neck and ankles?


text:
The old saying goes that if you build it, they will come. We've found that saying doesn't apply to online marketing. When it comes to the Internet, not only do you have to build it, you have to be sure it is built correctly. What's more, you have to market it!
Here are a few simple rules that will help you on your way to online marketing success:
1. Content is King.
This phrase has been said so often that it's become cliché, but that's only because it's so true! Just like you can count on your dog to actually sniff that fire hydrant, you can count on users to visit websites that have good and interesting content. Nowadays we are swimming in data; the key is to make sure the data your offering to your users is more interesting and compelling than that of your competitors. This is what will keep them coming back.
2. Consistency = Comfort.
We already know that your content needs to be compelling. Another key in online marketing is making sure your content is consistent. Think of McDonald's. Whether or not you eat there, you know exactly what they offer and what you can expect from them as a brand. This is the type of consistency we as consumers have been trained to respond to. We trust brands that offer us consistency, and we're more likely to buy from the brands that we trust.
3. Multiple Platforms Reach Multiple People.
Your clients are spending their time in a lot of different places these days, so it no longer makes sense to place a yellow page ad and think that they'll come to find you. You need to go and find them in the places where they already are, namely: Facebook. We know it can be a little daunting if you're not familiar with social media, but when you consider that 93% of adult Americans are on Facebook, it becomes a no-brainer. Your customers are there, and they expect you to be too. Don't let fear of the unknown prevent your business from reaching potential new clients.
We are here to help you succeed! Call our Sales and Marketing Manager, Melissa Neff at 877.244.9322 x100, or send her an email.


text:
Hearing Chord Progressions, Part 3: Minor Keys
Minor songs sound rich and exotic but listen to the bass and it all falls into place. Learn for yourself how to identify minor chord progressions by ear.
Chord progressions – the movement from one chord to another – is the harmonic bedrock of music.
Certain sequences of chords are used more often than others, which is part of what we take for granted as music sounding "normal". Ear training can help you to recognise chord changes and common chord progressions by ear so that you can write them down, play them on your instrument, or solo over the top of them.
Particular chord changes tend to have characteristic uses, and learning their sounds is very empowering as a musician. For example, a chord change such as the "perfect cadence" can create a strong sense of resolution, or in the hands of Richard Wagner can take the listener in unsettling new directions.
Some genres such as the blues are even defined by their characteristic progressions, while hip-hop, and drum'n'bass are notable for their lack of harmonic movement.
Though a musician is free to string together any chords to create their own chord progressions, Western music typically follows particular rules and traditions of harmony that result in the familiar musical sounds we all know instinctively just through regularly listening to music. This means there are some particularly effective ways to organise chords, and a number of classic chord sequences such as the "three chord trick", the "circle of fifths" and the "doo wop progression".
This allows you to:
For details on how to plan your ear training to recognise chord progressions, read the full article "Chord Ear Training How-To: Chord Progressions" which explains the step-by-step process to develop your ear to recognise the most commonly-used chord progressions in music.
Did you know that an astonishing number of songs use just three chords? And in fact, it's the same three chords? The classic I-IV-V chord progression is everywhere in rock and pop music – and even in classical! Discover the 3 chords every musician should know and why you should learn the I-IV-V chord progression.
When you're ready to go beyond three chords, introduce the "minor 6" and you have the 4 most common chords in music. There's one particular 4-chord progression that you. Discover the most important four-chord progression and why you need just Four Chords and the Truth to write a hit song.
Inside Musical U you'll find a set of ear training modules for learning to recognise chord progressions by ear, along with a detailed roadmap to guide you and a large number of exercises and interactive quizzes to help develop your skills.
→ Learn more about Musical U membership
Here are some listening exercises (MP3 training tracks) and an interactive quiz to help you practice recognising the chords in common chord progressions.
You can listen to the tracks or download them to practice with on your computer or mobile device. The exercises come with three difficulty levels: The "easy" exercise uses just root-position triad chords, making it easy to hear the movement of the root up to the fourth, fifth, and sixth degrees of the scale. The "medium" exercise introduces different inversions of the chords, which means the notes can change without it actually changing chord in the progression. The "hard" exercise doesn't play a scale before the progression so you have an extra challenge! We recommend practising with each difficulty level in order for the exercises, building up a robust ability to recognise those progressions in varied musical use.
→ Chord Ear Training Exercises
Learning to easily identify the chords to a song just by listening to it is an important skill for any musician. If you play chords on your instrument, it frees you from sheet music or looking up the chord chart to play a new song. If you improvise it tells you clearly which notes will sound good and fit well. And even if you do neither of those things, having a keen understanding of the harmony in music is vital for good musicianship and confidence in music.
This roadmap covers an approach which will allow you to quickly play the chords to a large number of songs by ear.
There are many types of chord and the possibilities for chords in a song are practically endless so it is easy to get overwhelmed and make slow progress trying to play chords by ear.
Fortunately we can take advantage of musical conventions to focus on the most commonly-used chords and progressions. This will let you learn to play chords by ear much more efficiently than traditional approaches.
Learn all about what chord progressions are and why they're important in music.
After completing this module: you will understand what chord progressions are and how learning to recognise the most common ones will help you to be more musical.
Learn how the same 3- and 4-chord progressions power thousands of hit songs and how you can play them by ear with the 3-Chord Songs and the 4-Chord Trick eBook.
After completing this module: you will understand what the I, IV, V and vi chords are, and why their progressions are so important.
Practice recognising the most common chord progressions by ear.
After completing this module: you will be able to reliably recognise the I, IV, V and vi chords in progressions.
Start to practice your I, IV, V chord recognition skills with realistic music tracks in a variety of styles: Pop, Rock, Dance, Solo Piano and Solo Guitar.
After completing this module: you will be able to recognise 3-chord (I-IV-V) progressions in a variety of musical styles.
Practice your I, IV, V, vi chord recognition skills with realistic music tracks in a variety of styles: Pop, Rock, Dance, Solo Piano and Solo Guitar.
After completing this module: you will be able to recognise 4-chord (I-IV-V-vi) progressions in a variety of musical styles.
Practice using the bassline of I, IV, V, vi chord progressions to recognise the chords with realistic music tracks in a variety of styles: Pop, Rock, Dance and Solo Guitar.
After completing this module: you will be able to recognise 4-chord (I-IV-V-vi) progressions in a variety of musical styles by listening to the bassline.
Apply your chord recognition skills to real music, recognising the I-IV-V chords and playing 3-chord songs by ear with the Popular Progressions training album.
After completing this module: you will be able to recognise 3-chord (I-IV-V) progressions in real music.
Apply your chord recognition skills to real music, recognising the I, IV, V and vi (six minor) chord and learn to play four-chord songs by ear with the Classic Chords training album.
After completing this module: you will be able to recognise 4-chord (I-IV-V-vi) progressions in real music.
Minor songs sound rich and exotic but listen to the bass and it all falls into place. Learn for yourself how to identify minor chord progressions by ear.
Is there an ear training course in your future? Don't go there without being prepared! Just Another Flutist gives five tips on how to be ready for class.
Step by step, ear training produces magical results. Find out how to hear the foundational major key chord progressions, with fun examples and exercises.
Want to walk into any musical situation with the chord progression to any song? Learn to hear the movement of the chord roots and you're well on your way.
Minor keys present us with rich harmonic possibilities. Check out these ear training exercises to jump-start your discovery of minor chord progressions.
Get started learning and practicing the 3 most common minor chords. Including audio clips and exercises to help you become familiar with their sound.
To write your own scary movie soundtrack or add variation to your compositions using minor key you'll need to know about minor scales and chords. Master the basics here.
Learn to play the most common chords and chord progressions by ear and find out how they are used in a variety of genres – rock, jazz, and classical.
A great framework for learning to play chords by ear broken down into 5 phases from learning the fundamentals to playing real songs just using your ear.
Part of the songwriter's secrets series, this tutorial guides you through how to write harmonies. Learn this 6 step process and add harmonies to your songs.
It is possible to write a song even without an instrument – this article explains how you can do it just using listening skills and modern technology.
Open you ears to this 5 Song Set influenced by the blues. Listen out for the bluesy elements in these unique songs from five great international artists.


text:
Needless to say, I made it to the scene where the white married couple have a heated argument about going upstairs to join the rest of the fledgling group of survivors or stay in the cellar.
Then mom came down, saw what was in the VCR and immediately junked it.
I bring this story up because every so often I remember the initial thrill of watching Night of the Living Dead and instantly realizing how much fun it would be to live in a world where the emergency broadcasting system wasn't giving a test, but actually warning citizens of some ongoing disaster and that those in authority were desperately trying to bring the situation under control.
But until this occurred, it was best if you stayed inside...
It hit me today, when reading the story of the "successful" month-long stint black Pastor John Girton spent in a tent to protest black on black violence in Indianapolis, that the black population of America lives in a world where the emergency broadcasting system is literally going off 24/7/365.
Civilization has broken down, with complete anarchy seemingly only one moment away (usually, that moment is the attempt to maintain - not even restore - civilization, as Officer Darren Wilson found out when he tried to get Michael Brown to walk on the sidewalk and not down Canfield Drive...).
In our world, zombies are only the stuff of fiction; but in our world, there exist creatures capable of far greater destruction than the zombie and even worse, we not only keep them fed with our redistributed tax dollars, but we finance the breeding more of them too.
With the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future being celebrated toward the end of this month, you'd be hard-pressed to convince someone in 1955 (the pivotal year the first film revolves around) or even 1985 that the apocalypse hadn't happened in 2015 when they were shown the following story. [Westside pastor strikes tent in campout for peace, Fox 59 Indianapolis, OCTOBER 4, 2015]:
As IMPD homicide detectives were responding to the discovery of the city's latest murder victim on the eastside, a westside minister was striking a tent he has lived in for a month in a campout for peace.
Pastor John Girton of Christ Missionary Baptist Church spent 30 days sleeping in a tent pitched on a patch of grass next to an asphalt parking lot at West 30th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Street.
"The Bible says we would have days like this and we would have months like this and so we have to recognize what do we do when we have months like this," Pastor Girton told more than 100 neighbors and supporters who turned out to mark the end of his urban camping vigil.
Democratic Mayor Candidate Joe Hogsett was among those in attendance.
"He slept for 30 days," said IMPD Chief Rick Hite. "He heard all the sounds. He saw all the issues. He felt all the pain."
Victims Advocate Clarrisa Patton spent much of the last month by Pastor Girton's side and said she often heard gunshots in the ANWAR community.
"I did on a couple occasions," she said. "But you know what I think? Because we were present here, because the pastor was present here, maybe there was so many that we didn't hear. Maybe there were many that didn't take place just because of his presence."
A fellow minister hammered a white cross into the ground to remember the city's latest homicide victim whose death was reported even at the rally began.
"This has got to be a movement," Hite reminded the crowd. "It cannot be law enforcement alone."
The intersection where Pastor Girton chose to campout has been especially hard hit with economic setbacks as neighboring Double 8 Foods and Chase Bank recently closed their doors.
"We need a way to survive within our own surroundings," said Patton. "If you're a single mom and you don't have a car, where you going to go to the grocery store? We talk about finances and get our money together. How we going to do that without a local bank?"
Patton said she hoped the lessons the community learned about the need for jobs and drug counseling and mentoring programs would continue after the tent came down.Pastor Girton's symbolic act of pitching a tent to bring awareness to almost exclusively black-in-origin violence in Indianapolis was almost overshadowed by the actions of Pastor Anthony Pippens, who put a black mannequin in a coffin with the sign "Who's Next." [Pastor: "Black on black" violence must stop, WTHR.com, 9-1-15]
Civilization has broken down, with complete anarchy seemingly only one moment away...
What was a childhood fantasy (influenced by watching Night of Living Dead) is a daily reality for black people in America, because that is the type of "community" individual black people can collective create in the absence of whites.
That's why Indianapolis needed not one, but two anti-violence rallies on October 4, 2015...
13 WTHR Indianapolis


text:
For brochures, leaflets, flyers, letterheads, ring binders, POS, packaging solutions, promotional products NCR sets plus any marketing collateral you may require, all of which can be personalised to promote your business, the opportunities are endless without using a number of different agencies.
The best place for digital printed brochures and digitally printed leaflets, in fact digital everything from, digitally printed brochures, digitally printed signs, digitally printed banners and digitally printed stationery.
"I would like to thank you for the superb job that you and your team have done for our forthcoming STEP meeting. The efficiency, great communication and fabulous artwork has ensured this projects success."
Ceri Myles, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals


text: Outlier teams up with the crew at Chari & Company in NYC to bring you the Chalk Stripe Overshirt. Made from a thick and toasty worsted wool, the shirt is essentially a beefed up version of Outlier's Pivot Sleeve Shirts. Features include: chunkier buttons, a functional tab collar and side panel gussets, all done up in a thick and improbably soft wool fabric that will keep you warm all winter. The piece is available now via the Outlier webshop & Chari & Company for $195 USD. It comes in a limited edition of 40.


text:
Back in play……
After something like 2 months of hard work (extra),i finally got back to the game and had the sword recharged (urziel)?,anyway,back to the temple and lost!
Somehow the memory for buttons remains (people complain?),but the terrain is …recognise something but….getting there slowly and no.2 waiting in the cupboard….
Sometimes games grab you and sometimes you have to shove them ..
G1 is pretty basic though it really has got that special something about it :)
Anyway, it's nice that you are able to get back and play one of the best games in history. :)
Gothic2 awaits playing (it`s in the closet).
Yes i recognise places,but having trouble remembering where everywhere leads to and running around in circles……..
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text:
TechnoVision and FS Article
| Point of View
Banks and Insurance Companies are Keen to Leverage IT Innovations, but Where do they Start?
An article from Capgemini
As "next generation" becomes "this generation", banks and insurance companies are deciding how to leverage cuttingedge IT to bolster customer service and experience.
Tools like TechnoVision can help CIOs see which technology trends will actually drive business.


text:
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Pregnancy category: Not applicable.
Uses: Ascovent 50 mg syrup is used for the treatment of bronchial asthma and COPD.
How to use: Ascovent 50 mg syrup is taken after food to avoid gastro intestinal discomfort.
Side Effects: Nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, abdominal pain.
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Dosage: 100 mg twice daily.
Written by: : www.healthplus24.com team
Date last updated: July 20 th, 2016
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Subscribe to our email newsletter.


text:
Jacqueline opened La Poubelle in 1969 based on a childhood dream of having a creperie in America.
With humble beginnings, a small kitchen where the bar now resides, 35 crepes and 15 omelets were served to the music of Edith Piaf.
Almost five decades later, the legacy continues with her daughter Françoise catering to loyal neighbors and friends. La Poubelle has trulybecome a Hollywood landmark.
We would like to sincerely thank those of you who have supported us through the years.
A bientôt et bon appétit,
Jacqueline et Françoise Koster


text:
The Chairman:
Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming. You know the inquiry
on which we are engaged. Before we start the questioning, would
you like to say something about the general scope of your views
on the issue? Perhaps, Sir John, you could go first and then Mr
Howarth you can go afterwards.
Sir John Baker:
Thank you, Lord Chairman. The main purpose in my writing the letter,
which I take it led to my being summoned before the committee,
was to challenge the widespread assumption that the House of Lords
must be elected as a requirement of democracy. That seems to me
to be quite a serious fallacy given the unusual nature of our
constitution, which has no parallel anywhere else. The reason
is that introducing elections would not mean that Members of the
House would be selected by the people: they would, I suspect,
be chosen mostly by political parties. That is admittedly a guess,
but I imagine that a candidate without substantial means, unless
very well known to the public already, would not be brave enough
to stand and certainly would not be elected. If that is right,
Members of the House would either be very wealthy, or famous media
personalities, or they would be chosen by party committees deciding
on party grounds. Voting for them would therefore also be coloured
by party politics. That system works perfectly well for electing
to the House of Commons, because that is our way of choosing a
Government under the party system, but I suggest that it would
not necessarily be a suitable way of choosing a second Chamber.
If the result were a House of the same party complexion as the
House of Commons, then there would likely be no check at all on
the Government: if they could control both Houses. I am not suggesting
that that would always happen, but it could. Even if the Lords,
having become elected, were of another political complexion from
the Government, they might become the wrong sort of check, in
the form of constant attempts to stop government proposals on
party grounds and with the encouragement of an electoral mandate
to do so. Perhaps that might produce desirable deadlocks on occasions,
but it would divert energies from the proper role of a second
Chamber. So what is that? I presume that everyone agrees that
it is vital in a democracy that legislation should be scrutinised
and challenged with a certain detachment, not just to improve
verbal clarity but to make sure that the Government of the day
do not in their enthusiasm for decisive action infringe those
basic principles which in almost every other country in the world
are embodied in writing and enforced by judges. The democratic
mandate does not override those unwritten principles of the constitution
because they were never put to the electorate. We have seen during
the past 10 years how important the House of Lords has been in
identifying and effectively stopping quite serious constitutional
slippage, such as proposed legislation ousting the jurisdiction
of the courts to review things done illegally, or giving the Government
power to make any law they wish without an Act of Parliament.
Select Committees are very good at keeping an eye on those things,
but we saw the previous Government on several occasions reject
the constitutional warnings of Select Committees, including those
two examples that I mentioned, and it was the House of Lords in
each case which saved the rule of law after the House of Commons
had declined to do so.
I would suggest that this essential role does not
require the sanction of the ballot box to give it legitimacy any
more than the judicial role, because the House of Commons can
insist on the last word if the Government are willing to face
down the embarrassment of being seen to act unconstitutionally.
It would be quite different if the Parliament Act were not in
place, but the House of Lords cannot ultimately prevail if the
House of Commons insists on passing bad law. I would finally suggest
that, far from being inconsistent with democracy, an appointed
House of Lords might, in a crisis, be the last defender of democracy.
It is not unthinkable that, some time in the future, a Government
might propose to extend their life indefinitely on grounds of
national emergency. It would then be vital for an independent
House of Lords to ensure that such a measure, even if seen to
be necessary, would at least be reversible. An elected House of
Lords, if it happened to support the party in power, might not
be able or willing to do that. We would then have a perfectly
legal dictatorship.
The Chairman:
I wonder whether I could raise a general point with you just to
start. There seems to be an implicit assumption on your part that
the introduction of what you call "party politics" into
the second Chamber is a bad thing. I do not see how you can legislate,
pass laws, without having a party structure and, indeed, party
politics in the second Chamber just as you have it in the first.
How could you do it without having the system of party structure
in the House of Lords, with Whips and all the rest of it? I do
not see how you can legislate in the same way. I do not see how
you can legislate at all unless it is done properly.
Sir John Baker:
All I am suggesting is that that works reasonably well at the
moment. Peers who are appointed have shown a certain independence
which the Commons certainly does not. To compare the two Houses,
the Commons when warned about constitutional outrages, even if
no one speaks in favour, in the end votes in favour because most
of its members are dependent on the Government for their prospects
if not actually their employment. Whereas in the House of Lords,
no doubt most of those present have political views, but they
are not subject to the Whip in quite the same way as an elected
Member. There is a different dynamic if you are answerable to
an electorate and a party which has put you there.
The Chairman:
I am sorry, I should have asked Professor Howarth before I launched
at Sir John.
David Howarth:
I agree with your point about party politics, Lord Chairman. Thank
you for inviting me. I suppose that I am here for exactly opposite
reason to that of my learned colleague: I am here to give an equal
and opposite reaction. I can promise an opposite one, perhaps
not an equal one. Contrary to what John said, I believe that people
who take part in making new law need to be elected in some sense;
they need to have been chosen by the people, either directly or
indirectly, to gain political power. Undoubtedly, there are other
forms of authority that people can gain. John has the authority,
the magisterium, of a teacher and a scholar; I am busy trying
to regain it: Tristram has probably lost it. It is a different
sort of authority from political power. I am very sceptical about
the expertise argument on the same lines. It is a different sort
of authority. The question for me about the expertise in the Lords
is not whether they should be expertsit is a very good
thing if Members of Parliament are expertsit is which experts,
and why these experts and not other experts. There are lots of
experts in the world. The question is how some experts get to
be legislators. The answer to that at the moment is political
patronage, which is not a sufficient ground. John's main theory,
as I understand it, is that there is an analogy between the authority
of judges and the authority of the present House of Lords, and
some people do argue that. But, again, it is not the same sort
of authority. Lawyers know that judges make law, but they do so
as an accompaniment, a necessary side effect, to their primary
task, which is to decide cases and adjudicate on individual disputes.
There is nothing else that the House of Lords does. It does not
have a primary task which means that it has accidentally to make
some law on the side. Its job is to take part in the legislative
process. For that reason, I do not think that it can take up the
same sort of authority that the judges have. I support the democratisation
of the House. Lord Chairman, you asked me what my general reaction
was to the Bill. I share Lord Hennessy's view that there is a
big problem here of talking about composition without talking
about powers. Lord Hennessy said the other day that it was a historical
problem and that people who have tried to reform composition without
talking about powers have come a cropper. It is also a bit of
practical advice that, if you want to design an institution, you
should first work out what you want it to do and then decide who
should be in it. Engineers usually ask, "What's the spec?
What are we doing here? What's the problem we are trying to solve
here?" My problem at that point is: what kind of things could
a second Chamber be for and what could it be doing? The Government
seem unable to make up their minds between a number of different
theories. We know that they are against a particular theory; they
are certainly against the idea of checks and balancesyou
can read that all the way through the Bill and the White Paper.
The checks-and-balances theory is rejected. But of the other two
common theories of what second Chambers are for, the revising
and scrutiny rolewhich, as Alan Renwick said, is a variety
of different thingsand the complementary role, those are
very different roles. The Government claim in different parts
of the White Paper that they are in favour of both of those, which
seems to be incoherent. If you take the revising role at its weakest,
which is to check whether proposed legislation is drafted in line
with the policy that it purports to be furthering and whether
the policy is coherent enough to be turned into legislation, that
is a function of the Office of Parliamentary Counselit
is just being done in public rather than in private and it is
very technical. That kind of role, a very weak role, could easily
be performed by a council of state; it does not need a House of
Parliament to do it. As Dr Renwick said, you could add more grit
to that; you could add the delaying power of scrutiny. "Scrutiny"
has various meanings. Some of them are purely technical, but some
are about political challenge. The question is twofold. On the
one hand, political challenge is what the Commons does; that is
its main purpose in life. As for the delay, why do we want that?
What is it for? If you want the second Chamber to have a very
weak role, yes, you can say, as John said, that it need not be
elected, but you can go further and it need not exist at all.
What is the point of such a thing being a House of Parliament;
it may as well be, as I believe some people have suggested in
the past, a French-style council of state. If, on the other hand,
you want it to be complementarynot to go as far as checks
and balances, but to be complementarysomething has to be
done that has not been done yet. I know that this will cause some
distress among Members of the House of Commons, but in order for
the second Chamber to be complementary to the first Chamber, you
have got to say what is wrong with the first Chamber. Since no
one seems to be able to admit that there is anything wrong at
all with the first Chamber, we do not get that debate off the
Q225 The Chairman:
Oh dear. Do you want to tell us what is wrong with the first Chamber?
David Howarth:
I fear that two Members have to go at 7 pm.
The Chairman:
You have three minutes.
David Howarth:
There are two things that I would point to. The first is that,
for the reasons that Dr Renwick mentioned, it is not very good
at conferring legitimacy on legislation. Under the first past
the post electoral system, the central role of the Commons of
sustaining the Governmentthat is what it is for; it is
like an electoral college that carries on for five yearsmeans
that we end up with an electoral system that produces majorities
from a minority of the vote, and the representatives in the Commons
of the majority of the voters usually end up voting against the
Bills that go through, although that is different now under the
coalition. I do not think that confers democratic legitimacy on
the legislation it passes.
The second thing that the Commons does very badly
is holding the Government to account, especially on spending.
If you look at the financial procedures of the House, they are
comical in how little discussion there is of the spending of vast
amounts of money. The Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bills
go through without debate; standing orders do not allow them to
be debated at all or amended, and all the stages happen at once.
If that is scrutiny and holding the Government to account, then
we need to think again.
Lord Rooker:
In some ways, it is all about the Executive getting control of
Parliament. The House that they do not control is the House of
Lords, but they do control the Commons. I declare an interest
as a Minister in both Houses, with my Secretary of State having
been saved by the Lords on more than one occasion. Both your essays
in The End of the Peer Show were my summer reading on the
beach, and I came back and said, "We ought to find out the
views of these two gentlemen, as it were". Obviously I have
since read your letter. I wanted to explore something that I explored
with one of our earlier witnesses today about conflict resolution
when it comes to the powers that the Lords have now but do not
use because we are not elected so we defer to the Commons. We
are almost a sub-committee of the Commons, in a way; it is almost
a unicameral system with a revising sub-committee that happens
to be called the House of Lords. I put to you the point that I
put earlier: if we get an elected House, notwithstanding that
a few Bills can start here, that decides that it wants to change
the conventionsthis legislation clearly does not change
anythingbut says, "Hang on, we're electedwe've
got a mandate, however you care to describe it", and chooses
to use the powers here to force the Government to use the Parliament
Act so legislation takes longer to get through. Under our system
where there is no written set of rules for conflict resolution
because there is no written constitution, what is to stop the
Supreme Court getting involved? Then it is a question of who gets
appointed to the Supreme Court and whether they are for or against
the Commons or the Lords, a bit like America where candidates
are asked, "Are you for or against abortion?", so the
argument will shift elsewhere. What is to stop that happening
with the Bill in its current form, saying, "We think it'll
be OK; we don't need to change the rules between the two Houses
but we want the Lords elected"?
David Howarth:
Article 9 of the Bill of Rights. That is the technical answer.
Courts are not allowed by law to question what happens here. There
are problems with recent court decisions, which I could go on
at great length about, which seem to undermine that principle
somewhat, and in the end the judges do what the judges do, but
they are not a constitutional court in the German or American
Lord Rooker:
But the hypothetical situation we are talking about is not the
same as now. We would have a second Chamber elected by popular
mandate where I am envisaging constant conflict because it wants
to get some powers from the Commonssome powers on finance,
maybe, or power of delay. It does not accept rules and conventions
here that we do not use. Why should it? It is elected. So there
is constant conflict in that sense. I am describing chaos. What
is to stop that happening? That conflict is implicit in the legislation.
In fact, in the debate we had, Paddy AshdownI am not misquoting
himenvisaged that it would be good to have conflict between
the two Houses. If we had constant conflict like that, are you
saying that the courts would not find a way to lever their way
into this?
David Howarth:
They did not in the constitutional crisis before the First World
War when there were similar, although not exactly the same, constitutional
struggles between the two Houses. The courts did not intervene
then, and I do not think the judges would have much of an appetite
to do that. We might disagree about the substance of whether conflict
is a good or a bad thingI think it is a good thing; for
once, I agree with my former leaderbut I do not think there
is a danger of the courts getting involved. I do not know whether
John thinks so.
Sir John Baker:
Not at present, certainly, although judges have certainly hinted
in the recent past that they may well set aside the concept of
parliamentary sovereignty if necessary, so in a different context
they might start reviewing legislation if unconstitutional legislation
is passed.
David Howarth:
In fact, the danger there is if you have the two Houses always
agreeing and threatening to take away fundamental legal protections,
like the protection of judicial review. It is at that point that
the courts start thinking, "Well, we might turn everything
on its head". I think that would be a bad thing, though.
What we need are judges who understand democracy as well as politicians
who understand the rule of law.
Baroness Scott of Needham
Market: I want to ask
a different question of each witness. I want to ask Professor
Sir John Baker what his evidence is for the political independence
of the House of Lords. As someone who spends most of my time here,
most Divisions simply take place with people voting along political
linesthere are very few occasions when people do not. I
am wondering what I have missed about this mythical independence
that I have not seen in 11 years.
I wanted to ask David Howarth a different question.
We do not really know how the relationship between the two Houses
will change, although we can consider different options. I wonder
whether one of the results might be that the Government might
legislate less.
Sir John Baker:
I am not suggesting that the House of Lords is or should be politically
independent in the sense of being able to frustrate the policies
of an elected Commons. I am talking about cases where a perhaps
overconfident Government do not pause to think whether the way
in which they are carrying out their policies might infringe principles
that would be included in a written constitution if we had one.
I can give two examples if you wish. The first is quite famous:
Clause 11 of the Asylum and Immigration Bill 2003, which provided
that there should be no appeal or judicial review in respect of
decisions by the new tribunal whether for want of jurisdiction,
error of law or breach of natural justice. That clause was opposed
by Lord Irvine as being contrary to the rule of law; it was subject
to strong attacks from Professor Bogdanor and others; Lord Woolf,
the serving Lord Chief Justice, said that it was fundamentally
in conflict with the rule of law; Lord Mackay opposed it as obnoxious;
and it was condemned by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of
the House of Commons as unprecedented. None of that had any effect.
There was a spirited debate in which no one spoke in favour of
the Bill except one junior Minister who had been sent along to
do so, and 35 Labour MPs voted againstbut the Commons voted
for it, even with is as much opposition as you could possibly
have. I am not sure that it went to a vote in the Lords but it
was widely understood that Lord Irvine intended to speak against
it there and it would almost certainly have been defeated, and
it was withdrawn. It was the Lords that secured that, not the
The other example is the Legislative and Regulatory
Reform Bill 2006, which would have given the Government the power
to amend, repeal or replace any Act of Parliament simply by making
an order. That was said to be potentially helpful in reducing
red tape. The press were taken in by that and the Opposition were
taken in by thatthey did not notice the small printuntil
the sheer enormity of it was drawn to public attention, I am proud
to say, by six silly professors, as we were called by a Member
of the Lords. The defenders of the Government argued that this
was just overzealous draftsmanship and it really was intended
to reduce red tape, but it was nothing of the kind. As I am sure
my fellow witness can affirm, because he was much involved in
trying to make amendments to it, the Government fought hard to
preserve the clause and would not accept amendments, for instance,
to preserve fundamental liberties. The House of Lords Constitution
Committee woke up to what was happening and said that this would
markedly alter the balance between Minister and Parliament, but
even then the Government wanted to push ahead. They said that
of course they would not abuse the new power, it would just be
useful to have it: that is when people outside Parliament start
to worry. It was the House of Lords that saved the day, not the
House of Commons. The Government had rejected the advice of the
Select Committee while the Commons played no role at all.
So the two Houses function very differently. Even
though the House of Lords has a great many politicians in itplease
do not think I am against politiciansthe ethos is different.
David Howarth:
I was intimately involved in the Leg and Reg Bill. In fact, I
was the Member of Parliament of the six silly professors. John's
account of it is accurate to some degree, but my memory is rather
differentthat we did destroy the Bill in the Commons. We
argued and argued. The committee was a delight; for the first
and last time, all the sketch writers turned up to the Bill Committee
and wrote unfriendly profiles of Jim Murphy. By the time that
the Bill got back to the House on Report we had already destroyed
it, and the Lords just came in and gave it the final blow. It
helpedit must have been Richard Holme who chaired the Constitution
Committeethat the two Houses were working together; that
helps in these situations. The important fact about the House
of Lords that was useful in all the negotiations was the one that
Meg Russell kept referring to and that we have to bear in mind:
who has the votes? That was purely it. In theory, the Government
could have used the Parliament Act to get the Leg and Reg Bill
through, but we had won the debate. There were also all sorts
of problems within Government; there was a missing Secretary of
State so junior Ministers who were technically referring directly
to the Prime Minister were having to take decisions and were slightly
paralysed in their ability to do so. Because of those conditions,
that Bill was never a candidate to be Parliament-Acted through.
To answer Baroness Scott's question, I hope that
one effect will be that there is less legislation. One of the
best ways to stop legislation is to have no majority in both Houses.
Q229 Ann Coffey:
I agree. One of the irritations for Back-Bench Members of the
House of Commons is when they can see, as a Bill going through
Committee, that it is just not going to go anywhere, but the Government
refuse to make the amendments that they need to in the Commons
and take those amendments in the Lords, which gives the House
of Lords attributes that it does not necessarily have and undermines
the Commons' legitimacy. That is a very irritating thing to watch;
I have watched it several times over the years. Bearing in mind
that we are looking at a draft Bill, what do you think should
be changed to achieve the Bill's outcome, regardless of what you
think about whether we should have elected, appointed or whatever?
What do you think the Government may have got a little bit wrong,
and what could be done to improve part of the Bill?
David Howarth:
My main problem with the Bill is that I do not know what the Government
want to achieve. They keep giving mixed signals about the purpose
of itthere will be no change at all, or we might be moving
backwards towards an even more feeble version of a revising Chamber.
For once I agree with Vernon rather than May on this; it would
be ridiculous to introduce a democratised element in the House
of Lords for the purpose of reducing its powers. That does not
make any sense at all. It is possible to do it but it is a silly
idea. I do not know what the Government want to do. The main purpose
of the Bill appears to be to get it through both Houses without
telling people what it is for. You need to be careful about what
you say as a Government; if you say that this is going to be a
big reform, the Commons start to complain that its primacy
Ann Coffey: I
understand that, but
David Howarth:
If I were doing this Bill, I certainly would not have Clause 2.
I am in a group of anti-Clause 2 people; the clause is just silly.
Q230 Ann Coffey:
David Howarth:
Because it cannot change the world. If you have elected people
in the Lords, they will start to feel more legitimate in many
respects than the existing Members and will start to do stuff.
All Clause 2 says is that nothing in the Bill changes the situation,
but that does not mean that the world does not change. The world
will change.
The second thing is that if you were doing this seriously,
you would think about the Parliament Act. I do not think that
you would change Section 1 of the Parliament Act, which is about
moneythe big thing that the Government control in the Commonsbut
you might want to think again about the extent of the delaying
power and about what kinds of Bill might be blocked.
I would have 100 per cent elected membership, and
I would certainly not have any bishops, for reasons previously
discussed. I am fine with STV; it is a great system. I would either
put a limit in the Bill on the number of Ministerscertainly
not leave it to the Prime Minister's "do by order",
which seems a very strange thing to door take away their
votes. I have no problem with taking away the votes of Ministers
who are Members.
I think I am with Lord Tyler on the issue of how
many Members and whether they should be part-time or full-time.
Because of the events of 2009, we in this country have become
obsessed with the idea that everyone paid to be involved with
politics has to be full-time. In the long term, that is very destructive.
We need a bigger House and we need to assume that people are going
to do it part-time. Frankly, I would pay them less and expect
them to do less.
Sir John Baker:
For what it is worth, I agree entirely with David about his first
two points and his point about full-time membership.
Q231 Dr McCrea:
Should the Members of the second Chamber be elected to have themselves
in place before the people and therefore have personal legitimacy,
or is it the popular mandate of the party? If it is the latter,
they as individuals now have the mandate of the individual. How
are we going to change the situation? The popular mandate of the
party would be from the two main parties. How should it suggest
to them that if there is a problem in the Commons, the Whips have
the final say in the Commons because they will do as their party
Whips tell them? That is what they are going to do in the House
of Lords. How will that situation be better than the present situation?
As a matter of fact, I have seen more revolts in the House of
Lords than I have seen in the House of Commons.
David Howarth:
It will be better in the sense that it will encourage people to
use the powers that they have, to go back to the previous conversation.
It depends whether you think it is a good thing that the Lords
use the powers that they presently have even under the Government's
rather stay-at-home version of change. When it comes to the party
against the individual, there is always a balance between whether
it is the party or the individual being elected in particular
constituencies at particular times. A good thing about STV is
that it makes it easier for independents and party dissidents
to get elected, and if dissidents get elected they might think
it is their job to defy the Whips. I suppose that it will remain
the case in the Lords, if you have this very long term and no
re-election, that Lords whipping will stay much the same as it
is now. A friend of mineI will not say which party he is
fromis now a Lords Whip. He said to me the other day, "Whipping
in the Lords is a bit like John Le Mesurier playing Sergeant Wilson
in Dad's Army; instead of ordering people about, he would say,
'Would you mind awfully stepping over here?'". There is that
sort of tone to it.
The Chairman:
Sir John?
Sir John Baker:
I thought the question was aimed at David.
The Chairman:
It was principally aimed at both of you.
Sir John Baker:
I do not think the situation would be better.
Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield:
Just to follow up a point of Jeff Rooker's on the Supreme Court,
I may be entirely wrong about this but I think it will break though
the crust of getting involved in politics, if you look, for example,
at Lord Steyn's opinion on the Hunting Bill and the application
of the Parliament Act. He indicated, did he not, that if it was
a question of abolishing the Lords he thought it would not wash.
Also, it has the job, as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
which has now gone into the Supreme Court, of having to adjudicate
on the concordats of devolution, which will become intensely political.
I understand about the Bill of Rights and all that, but that was
just a comment.
I was going to ask Sir John where his extremely interesting
and alarming sense of peril about the position of the British
constitution comes from, but by and large he has covered that
ground. I have a question for you, David: the thrust of your paper
is that we Brits are not very good at seeing these things as a
system; we take this bit but never think about the knock-on effects
of the rest and that is terrifying, looking at Parliament as a
whole. I think that you think we should get through that, and
I think we should too. So how do we do it? Where do we start?
Give us the blueprint for a systems approach in which we can locate
this relatively minor matter of what happens to the future House
of Lords?
David Howarth:
The first thing we have to do is divine what is wrong with the
Commons. The Commons has to be honest with itself about its defects.
As soon as you do that, you break through the mental barrier that
there is in this area of reform. Beyond that, it is a question
of taking seriously the idea of being complementary. I am a checks
and balances person myself, but if you are going to take the idea
of being complementary seriously, you have to think of it as a
system between the two Houses. It is what the two Houses do together
that constitutes the political system and the Parliament. We must
not just think about one by itself.
Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield:
A bit more, perhaps? A bit of a roadmap?
David Howarth:
I do not do roadmaps. If you are asking me to put on my Jonathan
Powell wig and give you tactical advice for your reform, I could
do that.
Q235 Lord Hennessy of
Nympsfield: I want a
grand scheme.
David Howarth:
That would be advice of a rather different kind. What would Jonathan
Powell do? I suppose that the answer is to keep this thing bubbling
under, cause a crisis in which the Lords are on the wrong side
of public opinion and ram the reform through very quickly at that
The Chairman:
A bit of political engineering.
Baroness Shephard of Northwold:
I thought they did that with hunting.
David Howarth:
Absolutely. I hope this sounds familiar to some people.
Baroness Shephard of
Northwold: I have a
question for Sir John. It relates to his article in this publication.
On page 97, he says: "In the case of Lords reform
there is
no indication whatever of public opinion".
Apparently there had been some polls in the Times based on two
questions posed by Peter Riddell. I think that political parties
will claim, because they had all suggested reform of the House
of Lords in their manifestos, that the issue has been put before
the public. I would like your comments on that.
Sir John Baker:
That is rather illogical, isn't it? If every party puts the same
policy in their manifesto, how can one vote against it?
Q237 Baroness Shephard
of Northwold: You certainly
make that point, but you go on to say: "Constitutional reform
should not be a matter of brute force, because the constitution
does not belong to the government but to the people". Would
you like to expand on that?
Sir John Baker:
As I said earlier, in almost every country in the world there
are written constitutions that lay down certain basic principles
that no Government should be allowed to overridefor instance,
the rights of minorities and the rule of law. We do not have a
written constitution, but it would be a shame if we could not
say that there were nevertheless certain fundamental principles
in this country that ought to be observed. That was the sense
in which I meant that it is not for the Government, simply because
they have been elected to power, to say, "We can ride roughshod
over all these traditions of the past". It is wrong to say
that they have been elected to do so because the electorate were
never asked that question.
Baroness Shephard of
Northwold: If you were
a Government and you wished to pursue the issue of Lords reform,
how then would you gauge public opinion?
Sir John Baker:
It would be good if there were more discussion in public, certainly.
The press have been very negligent in all matters of constitutional
reform, so I am not sure how much knowledge there really is among
the public at large. I have given the occasional public lecture
on these topics and I have been stunned by people coming up and
saying they had no idea that these things were happening.
Lord Trefgarne:
Not a referendum?
Sir John Baker:
I do not believe in referendums because you can never frame a
question in a way that is not slanted. Whenever you are faced
with a single question in a referendum, you immediately want to
say, "Well, yes if this, but no if that". I am not sure
how you could frame the question.
Q240 Baroness Shephard
of Northwold: Would
you think it more legitimate if one party said it was in favour
of Lords reform among the rest of its manifesto commitments and
another did not?
Sir John Baker:
I think my general point about the importance of the constitution
is such that perhaps the mandate argument should never be used
to support a change in the constitution simply as an act of powersimply
because you have a majority of one, or even a larger majority.
It is a problem thoughhow do we entrench or preserve those
constitutional principles when we have no machinery for doing
so? The courts might step in and do it. Personally, I think it
would be far more satisfactory if Parliament could do its utmost
to minimise that possibility by getting legislation right in the
first place; it is terribly expensive to launch judicial review
proceedings, and until you do you do not know what the law is.
Q241 Baroness Symons
of Vernham Dean: David
Howarth, when you were talking earlier, you said that the House
of Lords was now appointed on the basis of political patronage,
which you described as not sufficient grounds. You then went on
to applaud the method of indirect elections, which, when that
was examined a bit more, sounded tremendously like a marginally
more sophisticated version of political patronage. I wondered
why you thought one was more acceptable than the other when it
is arguable that one is just a sophisticated form of political
patronage but actually it is not more democratic.
David Howarth:
I should be clear that I am in favour of direct election100
per cent directly elected. It is just that the only other system
that has ever tempted me along its road is the French Senate,
a superb institution, which consists of people elected by people
who are elected. The most sophisticated electorate in the world
is not the Labour Party conference; it is the electorate to the
French Senate. If you are going to have a different sort of politician,
that might be a way of doing it, but my own first preference is
for direct election.
Baroness Symons of
Vernham Dean: Thank
you. Sir John, to take up Lady Shephard's point, it was actually
impossible to participate in the last general election without
voting for a party that wanted Lords reform. Surely that is the
long and the short of itif you did not want Lords reform
but still wanted to vote, you had to give assent, albeit tacit
and unwilling. You had no choice.
Sir John Baker:
That is my point, yes. There is no mandate.
Q243 John Stevenson::
My question is particularly directed at you, David, particularly
as you have been a Member of Parliament before. The Government
could have looked at composition and powers but have decided to
look purely at constitution and effectively ignore powers excepting
the existing powers. I suspect that that will lead to a more assertive
House of Lords. It will probably lead to a better organised House
of Commons; indeed, the Government might get their legislation
better organised and better drafted. I suspect that there will
be greater use of the Parliament Act as well. In time it will
probably settle down regarding conventions and so on, but undoubtedly
there will be unexpected consequencesthings we have not
thought of. I have already been thinking about one or two. For
example, you might see increased representation of other parties
in the second Chamber. Are there any things that you think could
emerge from this legislation?
David Howarth:
Ah, now you really do want tactical advice. If the Lords were
to start thinking about its powers and the Government lost procedural
control of it, all sorts of things might happen. The most radical
would be refusing to allow government Bills to start in the Lords.
Why should that not happen? Why should the Government get the
benefit of that? The control of time is the big battle in Parliament,
all the way through. so you could think about that. Or, as the
elected Members grew in number, people might start to think about
conventions about who votes on what and try to meet the objection
about legitimacy by saying, "Only elected people vote on
that one". All sorts of things might start to happen in five,
10 or 15 years' time.
Q244 Oliver Heald:
I would like to ask Sir John Baker a question. In looking at the
proposition for grand reform of the sort that the Government are
suggesting, Dr Russell said that she was a bit nervous about this
and felt that there was a case for a series of smaller steps that
would improve the way in which the current system works before
countenancing anything more major. She talked about things like
appointing at regular intervals, selecting even the political
nominees using the Appointments Commission to ensure that the
people concerned had particular qualities and, perhaps, introducing
a retirement age. That would be a slower and more modest approach
but one that she felt had a better chance of happening. What is
your view about that balance between a grand reform and a more
gradualist approach?
Sir John Baker:
As you might guess, I am deeply concerned about what is essentially
gambling with the constitution, because it is irreversible. We
can all speculate about things that might happen in 10 years'
time. Constitutions are for the long term. All sorts of things
might happen, such as different sorts of election landslides that
might occur 15 years from now. We not know, and it is a terrible
risk to take if we do not know, especially if we have not thought
about the relationship between this reform and other aspects of
the constitution. So I would very much be in favour of the measures
that you have outlined.
Q245 Oliver Heald:
So more of a "modest steps" approach?
Sir John Baker:
Q246 Oliver Heald:
And when you think about the history of this country and the way
in which it has developedyou are a great expert on the
English legal system and a great admirer of the way in which English
common law has evolved over timedo you have any views about
the overall constitutional approach that the country has taken
over many centuries? Is there something that you would like to
say about the British way of doing thingsor the English
way, even?
Sir John Baker:
We have not really had a system for doing it, have we? That is
part of the problem that we face at the moment. It is easy to
say, as I do, that we should think about the constitution as a
whole, but as to how one does thatthere was talk some years
ago of a constitutional convention, but the mind boggles at how
it would work. There would be so many different views that it
would be difficult to know how to resolve them. We have just allowed
things to evolve, and one can take a view that that works.
Q247 Oliver Heald:
I think you are diametrically opposed to David, aren't you? David
is very much for the Big Bang gradual reform and you are not.
Sir John Baker:
That is quite correct.
Q248 Oliver Heald:
But he is right about the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill?
David Howarth:
You and I were on the Committee.
Oliver Heald:
Yes, we were on the Committee together.
Baroness Andrews:
On the question of the whole-Parliament approach that Peter raised,
you seem to be in agreement that the main problem lies with the
Commons. Sir John, you made this rather startling statement in
your written piece: "Although the Commons has the undoubted
primacy in most ordinary affairs, it cannot be the business of
the Commons to tamper with the only effective check on their powerthat
is, on the otherwise absolute power of the Government which they
support". I would like to know whether David agrees with
you, but I am also wondering what the implications are of what
you are saying. Should they tamper? Were they to do so, what would
be the only controls that you could see on that?
Sir John Baker:
That was really a reaction to the remark made by Mr Straw under
the previous Administration, referring to the difference between
the two Houses on what should be done about Lords reform, that
in a democracy it is for the Commons to push through its view
and never mind the Lords' view. That seems to be quite wrong on
a matter of such constitutional importance as this question, simply
because the Commons by its very nature is working hand in hand
with the Government. That is the way our constitution works. If
there is to be any check on Governmentif one assumes there
should be some sort of checkit cannot be just the Commons.
If the Commons is allowed to remove such checks as there are,
we do not have a constitution at all in that sense.
The Chairman:
For once, the Division is fortuitous.
David Howarth:
Saved by the bell.
The Chairman:
Thank you very much, gentlemen. I am bound to say I thought that
was a stimulating subject, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


text:
This Forum has been archivedVisit Discussions
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multi-strand bracelet by Linda Lehman
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© Linda Lehman
multi-strand bracelet
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