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Comment by inglesp | Hacker News Reader

I had a Russian lecturer at my (British) university, who was fond of telling us that Russian lectures are like the British parliament -- people standing up and shouting all the time -- while British lectures are like the Russian parliament -- everybody sitting in cowed silence.

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The character of debates in the British parliament changed when it was Televised. Prior to that, it wasn't usual to see MPs having a nap, a bit like during many lectures I went to...

If I remember correctly the legislation allowing televising of the HoC, HoL and Committee chambers state that they are not allowed to show napping members.

In general they are more on their toes but you do occasionally catch a long distance shot (from above the main lobby entrance) of someone waking up particularly at the stupid late night debates they have.

It's the same law that doesn't allow the footage to be used for parody.

So if I, as an American use the footage for parody, will they try to extradite me to the UK?

There is, somewhere on the internet, a Daily Show episode where even they respect the law and don't use the footage.

I imagine they would have to sign a contract to get the footage and would be bound by the draconian idea that men and women sitting two swords length apart across a chamber guarded by men in tights are not to be laughed at.

Wow, I wasn't aware of such a law. Youtube is in a lot of trouble..

Hm. We had rather quiet lectures in our Russian university and our parliament (or Duma as it is called here) is a complete crap.

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