Time to reflect

Published on 04/09/2012 00:00

After reading the article, “Proportional Prayers: Time for Reflection in the Scottish Parliament”, by Professor Norman Bonney, published in the journal Parliamentary Affairs, and doing some simple sums, I was dismayed to learn that during the past 12 years, more than 26 hours of parliamentary working hours were spent on praying/time for reflection.

If our MSPs were as assiduous in reflecting on more pressing matters, such as child poverty, then perhaps some improvements to Scotland’s appallingly high child poverty rate could have been made.

Or is it too radical to suggest that there might be a correlation between intellectual effort, time spent engaging therein in parliament and progress in society?

Veronica Wikman

Edinburgh