May 25, 2013
The week's top five must-sees,
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The week's top five must-sees,
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Description
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the British Parliament, is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories. It is located in Westminster, London. Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.
The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. The Queen is the third component of the legislature. The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal whose members are not elected by the population at large, but are appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. Prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009 the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords.
The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster, in London. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or, less often, the House of Lords, and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature.
(via Freebase)
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