Got back from New Orleans yesterday after a great week’s trip as ‘an accompanying spouse’ to the American Chemical Society…6000 very welcome academic chemists in one town which desperately needs the tourists back after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The old French Quarter and Garden District were untouched and as beautiful as ever but 80% of the residential areas were flooded and half a million of the 1.4m population left. Recovery is slow, not helped by political arguments between State and Federal governments about who will pay for what. The Lower 9th ward is still devastated 3yrs on, many local people’s lives will simply never be the same again.
Back to find Lord Norton blogging away at a terrific pace as usual, I enjoy his photos of parliament too but actually as a newish member of the Lords I’m learning a fair about parliament from my colleague bloggers and especially him. I’m wildly jealous of the starring role he’s been accorded in the Guardian comment by Stephen Moss. Here I am blogging away and apparently invisible. ‘Talk more about yourself’ says the columnist but I have a fear that will lead to us all looking like self-promoting publicists, of which there are far too many in politics already. I feel I spent years being the well publicised ‘Queen of Geriatric Psychiatry’ ; there was a time 15yrs ago when you couldn’t watch a programme about dementia without me in it! Someone once introduced me as ‘She did for dementia what Angela Rippon did for bad news’. It’s actually a relief now to beaver away on the parliamentary issues and not feel I have to do too much publicity. I used to think it had to be me that did the shouting, now I know there’s plenty of others who are probably going to do it better.
And extremely vague 🙂
There’s really no need to be jealous.
Anyway, I just wanted to find out if the Lisbon Treaty in any way permitted the death penalty. Is it mentioned in the Lisbon Treaty? Is there anything written which states the death penalty could be carried out in the EU?
Perhaps you would care to comment on recent developments in Alzheimer’s given that Terry Pratchett is doing his best to raise the profile of this debilitating illness, and get some proper funding for research into it.
All MPs have to be self-promoting else they wouldn’t be there. I don’t think it’s bad for the public to know what buzzes you, even if it is an article that only hints at the glory of Lord Norton… 😉 You’re doing fine, too, you know!
There will be voting to select a hereditary peer soon; how will this be conducted? Surely there will be an element of self-promotion in this election? Erm, any insider knowledge you’d care to share?
I understand the social implications on the magnitude of Katrina but please don’t forget the flood victims in Blighty, of whom many of whom remain in temporary accommodation and will retain long-term trauma.
“There will be voting to select a hereditary peer soon; how will this be conducted?”
I’ve no idea either tiz, but I’m sure that there is a Saturday night TV Series in there somewhere…
Bedd Gelert – on the election of a hereditary peer? Here goes on how it works:
Very sadly there was a death of a peer who happened to be one of the Independent Crossbenchers. The reforms of 1999 allow for there to be a total of 92 hereditary peers in the House at any one time (until there is further susbstantial reform).
The proceedings are formal – a letter is sent out by the House Authorities to all those hereditary peers who used to be in the House inviting them to indicate any interest in putting their names forward for an election.
Approximately 150 hereditary peers are currently on the list of those interested. Voting is undertaken by those hereditary peers belonging to the Independent Crossbench Group ONLY – about 29 in all.
The election is mostly by postal ballot and the count will be made on 22nd May, supervised by the Electoral Reform Services.The Alternative Vote System will be used.
The only innovation to this formal procedure is that I (as the Convenor of the Independent Crossbench Peers) have set aside a morning where all the Independent Crossbench Peers (that is hereditaries as well as life peers)will have the opportunity to meet those who have put themselves forward for the ballot. The purpose of this informal meeting is to be able to talk to would-be Independents and to ascertain if they will be able to contribute to the work of the House both in terms of time and expertise AND to establish a measure of political independence.
Gosh, I’d like to be a fly on the wall when that meeting was taking place ! Be sure to give them a proper grilling and use your feminine intuition to the full..