Oh mother again ! Parliamentary priorities

Another triumph for the mother of parliaments ! On Friday the Commons debates Private Members' Bills, selected by the time-honoured method of a lottery (which is known bizarrely as a ballot !). Yesterday, they managed to agree to give more time to a bill liberalising the trade in number-plates but they didn't have time to finish debating the removal of prescription charges for cystic fibrosis sufferers. It is sometimes tempting to say with Cromwell "Take away this bauble". Why can't we have an assembly with reasonable procedures ?