So it seems that MPs have finally been stung into action after growing criticism of the way they have conducted themselves – or failed to behave well – during a number of recent debates.

Now five parties have sent a letter to the parliamentary chairman Gerdi Verbeet urging her to get tough on bad language.
‘Verbal standards of decency’ are being ignored, the MPs say. This is behaviour which could ‘undermine the very principle of democracy’. Not that they want an end to tough debate of course, just the insults.
The parties now adopting this holier than thou approach include the two orthodox Christian groups, the Christian Democrats, Labour and the right-wing Liberals who were, it must be said, not the worst offenders anyway.
The bad guys have not, so far, signed up.
What MPs say in parliament is covered by their own conventions on decency and verbal decorum. So what can Verbeet actually do if the mud-slinging continues?
As an ultimate sanction she can ban an MP from the debating chamber. She’ll have to be careful though.
Geert Wilders – who loves to rant about ‘Moroccan scum’ at every opportunity – would just love to be thrown out of parliament so he can rabbit on even more about how freedom of speech is being eroded. Even if he was breaking parliamentary rules in the process.