"The Palace of Westminster is like a beautiful museum," says Caroline Lucas, Britain's first Green MP. "But it's the only museum where the staff and members are forced to behave like exhibits."
Writing in this month's Reader's Digest magazine (1), the Green Party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion speaks publicly for the first time of her frustrations in the first three months of her career at Westminster - and of her successes and hopes for change.
She describes how inefficient she finds Westminster compared with the European Parliament in which she sat for more than a decade - including how it took well over a month for parliament to find an office for its first Green Party member, during which time her parliamentary base was a variety of cafes.
Note
1. The October 2010 edition is on newsstands now. The iPad edition is downloadable at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/readers-digest-magazine-uk/id378089819?mt=8 and paper copies can be ordered from newsagents or from www.readersdigest.co.uk