WHEN I was small person, here was a computer game which involved two white blocks batting a smaller block from one end of a green screen to the other. And back again.

One of the big blocks made a "ping" noise when it connected with the smaller block, the other made a "pong" sound.

It was called ping-pong and, even at the time, wasn't very good. For the past month or so we have been playing its Parliamentary equivalent. It hasn't been very good, either.

For those who missed out on the drama, the Government wanted to pilot all-postal voting in four areas - the North East, the North West, East Midlands and Yorkshire.

The Electoral Commission said it thought there should only be two pilots, but it would just about settle for three.

MPs passed a Bill introducing all postal voting in all four regions for the June 10 European elections and the referendum on a regional assembly due in Yorkshire in the Autumn.

Peers, who had been fighting the Government on everything from constitutional reform to making sure parents who kill their children but stay silent in court get locked up, rejected it. Ping, pong.

They cited the Electoral Commission, effectively making the Lords the election watchdog's representative at Westminster.

Peers often bat a Bill back once to make a point, then gently back down. But in this case they kept going. Ping, pong. Ping, pong.

Every time they did so, it took up an hour of time in the Commons.

At least with the computer game, the small block started to move slightly faster every time it was hit by the big blocks.

Not so, the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill. The odd concession was offered from time to time.

The Lords would accept three pilots, the Government would introduce checks to cut the risk of fraud.

But still no agreement.

Eventually, the Electoral Commission got bored and said they should just get on with it. Returning officers needed to know what was happening.

But the MPs and Peers plugged on, pretending it was vital to the survival of democracy, the world as we know it, mankind etc.

Lib Dem local government spokesman David Heath got so wound up that he ranted: "The Government is like a toddler in a supermarket who says, 'I want three lollies'."

People who ought to have known better tried to think of ways of making the saga interesting.

They said it was really about saving face for John Prescott by making sure at least a few thousand people vote in the regional assembly referendum - his "big idea" - or getting rid of the ballot box for the 2005 election.

The truth was that neither side had a clue what they were voting for or against. They just knew they wanted to win.

On Tuesday, an exasperated Lord Filkin, the Government's spokesman in the Lords, said: "It is hard to credit that we are still debating this Bill. In the optimistic hope that anyone is interested in the issue, perhaps I may summarise what it is about." They weren't.

Eventually, thoughts turned to the long Easter break and the Bill was allowed to pass. Game over.

But it had left its mark. "We have never been, according to the records we have been able to discover, in the situation where the House of Lords has disagreed this number of times," said Peter Hain, leader of the Commons.

Parliament is now in recess for Easter. James Slack returns on April 9

Updated: 10:07 Friday, April 02, 2004