What is a ‘whip’ in Parliament?

The term 'whip' is said to owe its origin to the 'whippers-in' ­people who keep the hounds in order at fox-hunting meets. Parliamentary whips are supposed to be similar disciplinarians, controlling the pack of MPs in their party!

Government whips are all Ministers of the Crown. The principal task of the Chief Whip is the management of government business in the House. He or she must try to ensure that, in spite of the activities of the opposition; Parliament has passed all the legislation and done all the tasks which it had planned during that session.

Whips in the two main parties are organised by subject and by region. They monitor opinions inside their party and report back to the leadership, maintaining valuable day-to-day contact between ministers and their backbench supporters.

'The Whip' also refers to a document sent out weekly to MPs detailing the forthcoming business of the House. Items are underlined once, twice or three times to indicate their importance to the party leadership. When a 'three-line' whip is issued, the leadership is letting MPs know that it expects them to turn up and vote on the matter under discussion!

Washington

Welcome to Washington, the capital of the USA! Today I'm going to discover it for you. This spotlight on Washington will help you to realise: what a diverse city it is!

First of all some facts about history of the city. Do you know what city was the first American capital? So, the capital had been located earlier in New York City and then in Philadelphia. Only in 1790 it was decided that the new country needed a new city and Congress chose the District of Columbia. Current President George Washington himself helped pick the spot - a marshy area where the Potomac and Anacostia rivers come together. French-born American engineer, architect, and urban designer Pierre Charles L'Enfant created a design based on Versailles, which features wide avenues radiating from the Capitol building through a grid of streets with numerous circles and parks. During the War of 1812, the British burnt parts of Washington. (How awful it looked!) This episode did, however, give the White House its name. The president's house was one of the buildings burnt, and after the war it was painted white to cover the marks.

Now we are going to circle around my favourite part of the tour - the Mall. Travelling around Washington, most of tourists are going to visit the White House, the Capitol (where Congress meets to make the laws of the country), the Library of Congress and the presidential monuments.

Just ahead of us you'll see a red brick building. That's the origin of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a group of over a dozen museums and research and publication facilities, such as the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of History and Technology, the National Zoo, and the National Gallery of Arts. How difficult to choose! Our group is going to visit world-famous the National Air and Space Museum. Hurry up! The museum closes at 6 p.m. Today, The Smithsonian has about 140 million objects. It will take you 265 years to see everything. It has aircraft and spacecraft that were important in aviation history. You'll see the craft in which O. Wright made the first manned flight and the plane in which Charles Lindberg made the first solo flight across the Atlantic. Museum has the command module that returned the Apollo 11 astronauts to earth after their moon landing, and there you'll even see the rock that the astronauts brought back! We hope you've enjoyed your tour and that you'll have a pleasant stay in Washington.