When a local Cantonese speaker objected to the noodle-eating in bad Mandarin, a quarrel erupted.

ECONOMIST: Old divisions find a new expression

All politics, as a former Democratic speaker once said, is local.

ECONOMIST: Why is Congress so divided over whether to normalise trade?

To promote civil society, the government is, for example, launching a "speaker's corner" in a local park.

CNN: Showing 'Greater Humanity'

"All politics is local, " Mary Hawkesworth said, quoting former speaker of the US House of Representatives Thomas "Tip" O'Neill.

BBC: Democrat women running to stand still

As question time drew to a close, Commons Speaker John Bercow urged MPs to press local authorities in their constituencies to count votes on the day of the forthcoming General Election - rather than the following day, as proposed by some returning officers.

BBC: Culture, media and sport questions