The UK House of Lords, is to launch it’s own YouTube channel.
Previously seen by some as a stuffy, rather stiff institution, it seems like the House of Lords , or The Lords as it’s normally abbreviated to, is trying to update it’s image and become more accessible to the people. All good stuff that should be supported.
Many people might be surprised that The Lords can be a pretty rebellious bunch and are considered by many as the safety net that stops governments of the day getting too carried away with their mad policies.
The initial five videos on the YouTube channel – virtual fly-throughs of some of the buildings with over-dubbed explanations of their long history are the sort of thing that will be useful for school pupils who need to research history projects. They’re not exactly going to get the kidz crying out for more as we suspect they’d be more interested in videos like this one … “Bgirl Red throwing down in Westminster Hall,” apparently …
Blogs too
It’s not just videos that M’Lords are getting into – they’ve also started a blog.
Lords of the Blog – somewhat of a strange title – is a self-proclaimed “experimental project to encourage direct dialogue between web users across the world and Members of the House of Lords” – again to be encouraged.
It’s being run by the Hansard Society, an organisation formed in 1944 to “strengthen parliamentary democracy and encourage greater public involvement in politics,” who among other projects runs eDemocracy.
Currently 11 of the Lords are contributing and it does provide an interesting insight into a world where mere mortals don’t normally get to listen.
Particularly news worthy is the posting from Lord Norton on the political rumour mill and its comments on the shock resignation of David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, yesterday.
Will it work?
This kind of thing would be relatively easy to mock, assuming that The Lords being desperately out of touch with the general population trying to ‘get groovy.’
It’s encouraging that they’re making these steps to be more open but it is essential that they are open, happy to discuss controversial subject, if they are to keep the interest of the people, and more importantly their belief in the honesty of what they are writing.
Hi there
Your article on the new House of Lords videos on parliament’s YouTube channel are great – however you describe the first five videos as being ‘virtual fly-throughs of some of the buildings’, but these aren’t the five videos which were launched today, which are all about the real work and impact of the Lords and its relevance to young people. You’ll see vox pops of people on the street, talking heads of peers, footage of the Lord Speaker visiting a school and the edited highlights of the UK Youth Parliament’s recent debates in the Lords chamber. Enjoy!
Lucy
Thanks Lucy … We’ve looked at the YouTube channel again just now and see the extra video are on there.
Great to see the new ones there – those ones are far more likely to engage.
Thanks for the tip on the update and keep up the good work!
Simon