This is especially important in the current context. On two very important issues we have had the two leading coalitions — the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA — speaking at each other. The first is the financial crisis, begun in the United States but now threatening enough Indians: some with the prospect of falling net worth, others with the possibility of pay cuts, if not outright job losses. As these columns have emphasised, the government has begun to be forthcoming about how it plans to see out the worst and the opposition has come up with valuable suggestions. Parliament is still the best venue for them to engage in conversation. Similarly, on internal security, and most particularly anti-terrorism investigations, the politics is getting too divisive. It will be a sad confirmation of Parliament’s fading relevance as a talking shop if next month we do not get any civilised debates on this issue in the two Houses.