My Lords and Gentlemen,
His Majesty's Government will soon begin discussions and drafting work on the new Hanoverian Constitution. As I believe was explained in the King's Speech, we intend to propose Winter and Summer breaks for Parliament. His Majesty has suggested that, in determining the precise dates involved, we consult the current members of this House.
All members please respond to this post indicating any preferred dates for the two breaks; these may be the dates of equivalent school breaks, or whatever you like.
Winter Break: The last week of December and the first week of January.
Summer Break: The entire months of June and July.
Winter Break: I would suggest perhaps a few days before Christmas, 2 or 3, through the first week of January.
Summer Break: June and July.
I would also ask for a break from Palm Sunday to Easter Monday, resuming on Easter Tuesday.
My Lords and Gentlemen,
I would like to second the noble Lord's suggestion that the winter break begin a few days before the Christmas holiday and still continue into the first week of January. Those two to three weeks are when most students are away from their studies, and also an extremely busy time for anyone involved in any sort of holiday celebration.
With regard to the summer break, I suggest that it be just one month: August. This year, Parliament seemed to be very active through July, but come August, many people started taking vacations and had other commitments that necessitated their absence from parliamentary duties.
Regards,
Carson
I think one month and a half for each would be appriopiate.
I rather concur with the Rt. Hon. the Count of Damoneigh, in that the two principal breaks should perhaps be a compromise between one and two months. I myself am of the opinion that perhaps one sole month is not of a satisfactory length for the summer break.
However, perhaps even less than one month would be long enough for the winter counterpart. Something like December 20th to January 10th. Just throwing out dates.
I am in favour of auxiliary breaks to perhaps coincide with Easter.
My Lords and Gentlemen,
I have reviewed posting statistics for each month of 2004-2007, and some very definite trends emerge. While June and July were not always the least active months, the two least active were always in the May to August block, and usually it was toward the earlier part of that block. Thus, if we're going to plan a break, it should be in that period, I would say. Putting it in August seems too late to me. We should strongly consider starting the break in May, since many of us have exams in late May.
For the winter break, my suggestion is still a short break of two weeks or less. The statistics also indicated that January was the most active month by a significant margin, so we should not endanger that activity. Thus, my suggestion is still the last week of the old year, and the first week of the new. We might also consider reviving the old Hanoverian winter break, which comprised the last two weeks of December only.
Like the Archbishop, it will be virtually impossible for me to participate in Hanover during Holy Week. Thus, I support his proposal for a parliamentary recess during that week.
My concept toward the winter break is the American Hanoverians aslo partake in a major holiday in the last week of November.
I agree with the Monsignor McQueeny, I had been thinking of a break earlier, starting in May, but hadn't been sure how it would be received. It seems that I myself always start to cease online activity at around the time school exams are held. Whereas August is usually when I start thinking about Hanover again.
My Lords and Gentlemen,
I decided to have a look at the weekly, rather than monthly, posting statistics, and the pattern I had always felt became much more clear. On review it would seem that the least active month, overall, is in fact May. Especially in more recent years, a decided slump has been evident, starting as early as April, and usually ending by mid-July. Based on this, my considered proposal for the summer recess is that it encompass the last two weeks of May, the month of June, and the first two weeks of July. So, say, from May 20th to July 15th, or thereabouts.