This week Julian Glover, Georgina Henry and Lesley Riddoch join me – flying solo while Tom Clark is on holiday – to discuss the Glasgow North East byelection, proposals to make parliaments less pliable and immigration.
Lesley reports that the byelection count itself was not worth staying up for but all agree it points to some interesting trends. For Lesley that's the new incumbency of the SNP: they were once the insurgents but now they are in government in Scotland so returning the Labour candidate to the seat was almost a protest. Julian also suggests that, away from London, Gordon Brown's popularity is pretty high – much higher than Tony Blair's.
We also discuss some new suggestions to spice up parliament. John Major, the former prime minister, came back to parliament this week with a plethora of ideas including limiting the size of government so as to limit the number of people paid and therefore loyal. Both Georgina and Lesley say Major's suggestions are meaningless without the granddaddy of all changes: proportional representation. Julian makes the case for Major, a man who was his old boss.
And if you want to come and get involved in a live Politics Weekly we're doing our first programme in front of an audience on Wednesday 9 December here at the Guardian in King's Cross, London. Polly Toynbee, Nick Cohen and Simon Jenkins will be on the panel. For free tickets, email us will be there, but we'd like your questions too ... Feel free to start sending them in.
