Are you sick of the overheated, braying politics of Westminster, where there is a lot of heat, but not much light?

What’s the alternative?  Try this:

A rational parliament would be ruled by free thinking and would respect the balance between personal values and scientific research.  It would value independent reasoning above organised thinking, such as uncritical political party allegiance.  It would debate current live topics. It would be open to reform.  It should be configured in a horseshoe and at least two individuals who have conducted publicly funded academic research on the topic would have to be in attendance.  Every member would have the same right to speak, and no one should make a personal attack on a fellow member of the speaker.

In its debates, claims of research findings should be supported with references to academic literature and provided on request. Members proposing a motion should take no more than five minutes to do so and any member who receive payment related to the views they take on a topic must declare such payments.

Well, Pod Academy’s very own Adam Smith (producer of many of our science podcasts) has launched such a Rational Parliament, and it held its first debate earlier this month – on genetically modified foods (the attached podcast gives you a flavour of the opening presentations). The first sitting was characterised by live tweeting about the debate (with all  #GMatRP tweets projected onto a huge screen at the front of the hall), and by the services of a ‘rhetoric officer’, Johnny Unger, a linguist from Lancaster University, who pointed out the rhetorical devices people were using to persuade others.  In the end the following motion was passed:

• This House agrees that GM food has a contribution to make in meeting global food demand.

Future topics are likely to include badgers and bovine TB, alcohol minimum pricing, wind farms, climate change and education – all highly controversial topics which would benefit from the Rational Parliament’s  ‘let’s look at the evidence and the ethics’ approach.

If you are interested in attending the next RatParl, either as an MRP (member of the rational parliament) or an observer in the gallery, just sign up at the ratparl website, and follow them on twitter at @ratparl .