The Kidney Stone of Alderman Adams

The History of Parliament blog detects a connection between Ig Nobel Prize-winning roller-coaster/kidney stone research and, yes, the history of Britain’s parliament: The Kidney Stone of Alderman Adams The link between the Ig Nobel Prize for improbable research and the 1640-1660 Section of the History of Parliament Trust is not immediately obvious; but the Ig Nobel […]

London’s top-secret BT Tower revealed (23 years ago today)

On this day, Friday 19th February 1993, Ms. Kate Hoey (member of parliament for Vauxhall, London) used ‘Parliamentary Privilege‘ (which provides immunity from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act) to reveal the existence of a previously secret high-tech installation in central London. “Hon. Members have given examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially secret. […]

Choosing politicians randomly produces better results

Democracies would be better off if they chose some of their politicians at random. That’s the word, mathematically obtained, from a team of Italian physicists, economists, and political analysts. The team includes the trio whose earlier research showed, also mathematically, that bureaucracies would be more efficient if they promoted people at random. Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, Cesare Garofalo, […]