FIRST OFF . . .

More changing times: Television cameras recorded the proceedings in Britain’s House of Commons for the first time Tuesday as legislators returned to work from their summer break. But the taping by the eight remote-controlled cameras was a dress rehearsal that will be seen only by legislators and TV program planners. Regular TV viewers won’t get to see the lawmakers in action until the Nov. 21 opening of a new session of Parliament. The House of Lords, the unelected chamber of Parliament, has permitted the televising of its proceedings since January, 1985, and viewers have occasionally glimpsed a lord or two soundly asleep in his chair. The often rowdy Commons had until now always refused to admit TV cameras. If there is a noisy disruption in the Commons either among legislators on the floor of the House or among demonstrators in the public gallery, the camera operators have strict orders to ignore it and focus only on Speaker Bernard Weatherill.