We really don't need medieval ritual

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“Of all the issues, in all the parliaments, in all the world, they chose this one.”  It’s not exactly Bogie-level rhetoric, but then neither does it reach the elevated level one might expect in a gin-bar. It is though, an issue which some Members of the Senedd, particularly the Tories, are attempting to turn into some sort of scandal. I’m referring, of course, to the swearing (or, rather, non-swearing) of oaths by those giving evidence to the Senedd’s Covid Committee.

Whether swearing an oath makes any difference to the truthfulness and honesty of a witness is, to be kind, an open question. Maybe in some rather more god-fearing past the fear of divine retribution made people more fearful of lying, although if someone’s life depended on not telling the truth it’s hard to believe that a mere oath would make a difference. Besides, we live in a more secular society these days, and fear of divine retribution is greatly reduced. In any event, people increasingly choose to affirm rather than swear on a holy book anyway, and the potential spiritual consequences of breaking an affirmation are undefined. (As an interesting aside, affirmation wasn’t originally introduced to accommodate atheists as many believe, but to accommodate Quakers who devoutly followed the biblical teaching of Jesus in the sermon on the mount in which he told his followers never to swear any oaths on the basis that they were duty bound to be honest anyway.)

Giving Members of the Senedd, even the Tory leader, the benefit of the doubt, I’m not convinced that they really believe that taking an oath before giving evidence will add much to the probability of truthfulness. I assume that they (yes, even Millar) have a bit more intelligence than that. I suspect it’s rather more to do with status, or perceived status. ‘Proper’ inquiries require an oath, so anything which doesn’t require one is perceived as having a lower status. But where does that ‘properness’ requirement come from, if not the arcane processes of Westminster? Wales really doesn’t need to emulate the antiquated customs of the English system: the purpose of having a parliament of our own is to forge our own future based on our own values and judgements. Getting hung up on obscure, obsolete and irrelevant medieval rituals doesn’t exactly help that.