1.0Freakonomicshttps://freakonomics.comStephen J. Dubnerhttps://freakonomics.com/author/stephen-dubner/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://freakonomics.com/2012/01/27/star-spangled-banter-a-new-marketplace-podcast/">Star-Spangled Banter? (Ep. 81)</a></blockquote> <script type='text/javascript'> <!--//--><![CDATA[//><!-- /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,d){"use strict";var e=!1,n=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},!c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage)if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(t)if(t.secret||t.message||t.value)if(!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var r,a,i,s=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<s.length;o++)if(r=s[o],e.source===r.contentWindow){if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(i=parseInt(t.value,10)))i=1e3;else if(~~i<200)i=200;r.height=i}if("link"===t.message)if(a=d.createElement("a"),i=d.createElement("a"),a.href=r.getAttribute("src"),i.href=t.value,i.host===a.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(!n){n=!0;for(var e,t,r=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=d.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),s=0;s<i.length;s++){if(!(e=i[s]).getAttribute("data-secret"))t=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t);if(r||a)(t=e.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),e.parentNode.replaceChild(t,e)}}}}(window,document); //--><!]]> </script><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://freakonomics.com/2012/01/27/star-spangled-banter-a-new-marketplace-podcast/embed/" width="600" height="338" title="“Star-Spangled Banter? (Ep. 81)” — Freakonomics" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe>https://freakonomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/commons.jpeg640428Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “Star-Spangled Banter?”(You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via the media player above, or read the transcript below.)In honor of the forthcoming Independence Day, we take a look at one British tradition that the U.S. might do well to consider adopting: Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ's), the weekly Parliamentary session in which the PM goes before the House of Commons to field queries from the Opposition as well as his own party.I had the good fortune to attend PMQ's on a couple of recent visits to London. One of the sessions was particularly woolly -- in part because Prime Minister David Cameron called Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls a "muttering idiot" (a comment that Cameron was duly asked to withdraw as it was unParliamentary) and also because Cameron had just returned from a G8/NATO summit in Chicago, which provided an extra hour or so of substantial back-and-forthing between the PM, Opposition Leader Ed Miliband, and dozens of MP's. (Additionally, Greece was cratering, perhaps along with the Euro, and the U.K. had just entered its second recession -- so there was plenty to whinge about on all sides of the aisle.)It is quite a piece of theater to watch (and yes, it is largely theater), but it also struck me that PMQ's provide the British government and especially the British electorate an opportunity to have what the American government and electorate do not currently have: a real and real-time dialogue (on national television, and on C-SPAN in the U.S.) between members of opposing parties as well as the country's political leader.