Last week I attended a talk at the Houses of Parliament. The talk was by a senior person at the Fed and someone from the European Central Bank on the situation of the US economy and the likelihood of further quantitative easing. The talk was decent (yes, we are probably going to have more QE in the US in the coming times) and had some insights – the point of central banks traditionally focusing on inflation to the avoidance of everything was a good point in the current environment, etc etc.
But what was most interesting to me was the way Parliament functioned. Not the actual debating chambers but the administrative machine around it. It was actually quite surprising how easy it was to get in but how it was still rather thorough in its checking.
I was not directly invited to this talk. The talk was organized by London Business School for its students and alumni. My neighbour, S. is an alumnus of LBS and had been invited. He had forwarded the email invite to me and asked me if I was interested in attending. I RSVPed to the email id given but did not receive any response from them. Come the day of the talk, S. suggested that we meet at 4 at Westminster station. But I had not yet got confirmation whether I could attend. I printed out a copy of the email S. had forwarded me. So, he had an invite which was for S.V. and I had an invite which was also for S.V….and we were going together. And twins we do not look!
On reaching Parliament we were asked by the policewoman outside where we wanted to go. We said that we were going for a talk on the US economy – and we were clutching the print out of the invites – wondering if she would notice the names of the recipients of the email. However, she hardly looked – well, probably took a fleeting glance- and waved us through to a long corridor which went to a security room.
Now this was a proper security check. Airport style. Scanners, full body pat down, metal detectors, empty one’s pockets, etc. Apart from asking for liquids to be put in transparent sachets, it was a proper airline check. However, I don’t remember them checking our invites. In other words, they didn’t really know why we were there. They just assumed that we had legitimate business to be there and that the staff at the outside gates had already verified that. Yes, the check was thorough enough to probably stop us getting anything dangerous inside but why we were there was perhaps not entirely clear.
Once through this, we came out on to the grounds from whence we turned right and entered the actual building. There were a lot of tourists mulling around in what was a sort of inner courtyard to the actual rooms. We walked down this and came up to a decision point of left or right…and asked the security guard sitting there where Committee room 10 was. Without batting an eyelid he pointed to a staircase and told us to go up. Again, no questions of when, what, where, why, who, how, etc. Going up the staircase, past a number of awesome busts, including Gladstone, Disraeli and Peel, we reached a sort of lobby, to the left of which was the House of Commons and the right was the House of Lords with reception desks manned by security personnel.
The same routine followed – “Which way to committee room 10?” “That way, sir” pointing to a small flight of stairs in corner. Up we went and there we were at the entrance of Committee room 10. There was a slight queue of people there because some people were matching names and identities against a list which they had - a list of confirmed attendees. Since nobody had replied to my RSVP mail, it was a good shot that my name was not in the list. And if they were to ask to see my invite…well, I didn’t have one…I had just printed out S’s invite. This had the potential to be embarrassing…or even worse!
Still, I had to play the game. S went off in front of me and was accosted by one of the gatekeepers. I met the other and confidently said my name –“Sanjeev Chandran” and looked around nonchalantly while he tried to find my name in a list which I was sure did not contain my name. While he was scouring through his list, I saw that S was also not making progress- his name also did not seem to be in the list…though he had RSVPed as well…and indeed he had officially received the invite. Curious.
Then, the light seemed to glow and the two of them switched lists around – they didn’t both have copies of the same list but halves of the same list. That explained why S was untraceable…I, of course, was unlikely to be traceable. However, that didn’t work too… they still couldn’t find both of us. Curiouser and Curiouser, I thought.
At this stage, it seemed that after all the easy way through, we finally weren’t going to be able attend the talk after all. The security apparatus had finally clicked in…der aaye durust aaye. But then the penny dropped. The chap turned around, handed me the list and asked me to add in my name at the end of the list. I wondered for a second if it was worth filling in “Ayman al Zawahiri” but decided that discretion was the better part of valour…after all, even if it was a little more der, the durust could still be spectacularly durust. So, there it was – once I had filled in Sanjeev Chandran, I was through to attend the talk…even though I had not received an invitation. Incidentally, S. too got in after filling in his name…but at least he had had a genuine invitation. I, on the other hand did not…and the system had not just let me in, it had been extremely kind and accommodating to me.
I am sure there is a lesson in this somewhere but I am not too sure what….is it about how relaxed one can keep security as long as one checks everyone thoroughly. Or does there need to be a complete overhaul of processes at the Parliament, just in case there is an inside job? Or is just that the British simply haven’t cottoned on to the real threats possible because they haven’t had an Afzal Guru like incident? The impression I do leave with, however is the unfailing politeness of everyone in the system. Even if processes need to be far more stringent, that is a good lesson for all personnel at all such important buildings. Be polite and helpful and visitors will just appreciate the entire experience much more.
And, oh yes, next time you are in London, do try and visit Parliament…it’s a good experience…
