A View form the Lords, with LORD GREAVES

IF you've got digital you could spend all your life watching the Parliament Channel, which provides live coverage of the House of Commons and fits in recordings of the Lords at other times.

You also get the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly at weekends and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

People so addicted to politics might be thought to be rather sad. But as a Liberal I say - everyone to what turns them on. I am quite surprised how many people say they have seen me speaking in the Lords, which often means watching at half past six in the morning!

At this time of year the channel gives us "politicos" an extra treat - uninterrupted coverage of the party conferences. I'm licking my lips at the prospect of watching the Tories this week!

But do these conferences matter any more? Are they still democracy in action or just rallies for dwindling numbers of the faithful?

There was a time when Labour's conference was ultra democratic, even anarchic, with the chairman calling 'the lady at the back in the red jumper' (who might turn out to be a rather pretty long-haired youth), and leading figures such as David Owen and Dennis Healey being subjected to a barrage of heckling as they spoke.

Now things are tightly controlled and stage-managed. Stray hecklers are dragged out without further ado. But it's still the case that just four unions have 42 per cent of the power through the block vote.

Labour's conference decisions used to be the be-all and end-all but nowadays defeats for the platform - as this year on council housing and the railways - are just dismissed with the shrug of a ministerial shoulder.

Tory gatherings have always been little more than super-rallies, but the Liberal Democrats still make party policy on the floor of the conference hall. They are scorned for their long and complex resolutions but if you are deciding policy that is what you have to do.

So are the conferences worthwhile? They are very tribal events - party officials and activists coming together from all over the country to exchange ideas, news and gossip - and that is useful.

They are also the only time that London-based journalists get to meet the real parties, not just MPs. In my view they are worth the trips to the seaside if only for that.