Given my enthusiastic support for the Lords of the Blog project, when it was suggested by one of the users of the site that I should explain more about my role, I was very happy to respond – specially since this is a “guest spot”, which means I don’t have to show the same impressive ongoing commitment as the original Lords bloggers. It is a good opportunity for me to explain some of the things that I am doing in my representative role. I see an important part of my job as ensuring that the Lords is part of the wider parliamentary agenda of communicating with the public and of supporting the experts to ensure that we use a variety of media to do this.
On Friday we launched five new videos on the parliamentary YouTube channel. Please let me know your reaction to them. Four of the clips are about the House of Lords itself and its relevance to young people in particular, and its involvement in issues that are of concern to them. The fifth shows not peers speaking in the House of Lords, but highlights of the meeting held last month when members of the UK Youth Parliament sat in the chamber of the House and debated what their campaign priorities for the next year should be. I was in the chair – ie on the Woolsack – for those debates and it was fantastic to see the passion and enthusiasm with which these young people spoke – and their brevity – something that peers could perhaps emulate on occasion!
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NtqWwCIhW4E]
A great deal of my “outreach” work is with young people. For instance, last week I met the winners of the “What a Waste” competition which I sponsored for school students to submit their ideas on waste reduction to the Science and Technology Sub-Committee, who were impressed with the ideas put forward. I also hosted the winners of the Rotary “Youth Speaks” competition, and I recently made a return visit to an inner London primary school to talk to their assembly about parliament before they made a visit to my office, complete with squash and biscuits, at the end of their tour of parliament. I have just received the thank-you letters which were a joy to behold. I was particularly touched by the letter that said, “I am writing to thank you for the very good answers you gave to our questions, even when they were quite difficult (I thought)”. You don’t get many better accolades than that.
Last week was also a busy week because of the opening of the exhibition: A Changing House – the Life Peerages Act 1958, which marks the fiftieth anniversary of the appointment of life peers, and the first time that women were allowed to become members of the House of Lords. The exhibition, in the House of Lords’ Royal Gallery, runs until 26 September and for a free guided tour, you can email cto [at] parliament.uk or visit the microsite www.parliament.uk/lifepeeragesact.
As I said at the beginning, this venture into blogging is for the moment a one-off, but I do keep my home page regularly updated and would be interested to have any comments on that, or indeed on any of the other topics I have covered.
Helene Hayman, Lord Speaker
I just wanted to share how excited I am to see this sort of blog. Despite the fact that its content is only tangentially related to my life and experience, it is interesting to read and gives me hope for the future. Perhaps someday it will inspire my own elected representatives to begin communicating with the public on a more casual level, showing that they are real people rather than just a political mask with pre-written speeches by public relations gurus.
It’s just very refreshing and highly encouraging to read something that is a little more honest and straightforward than what we usually feel we receive from our leaders. Thank you for being a part of this project.
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Matthew Stublefield
Springfield, Missouri, USA
Thanks to the Lord Speaker for an informative post – it would be interesting to see other peers undertaking guest spots, I think. Which isn’t to detract from our wonderful resident peers, but as an addition to them!
As for Matthew’s comment: well these peers aren’t elected, and most aren’t politicians – this is why they can afford to be honest.
@Matthew: until I saw your little signature there, I thought you were talking about the House of Commons!
What is good about The Lords is they’re not beholden to the public, and most importantly not to tabloid journalism. They’re mostly ignored by the media, because they are less easily swayed than their colleagues in the lower house.
I believe the problem you’re describing with your own government is the same as we have with our House of Commons: they’re subject to the whims of the media who pick apart everything they say.
Lord Speaker,
It is a pleasure to see people who are not in their twenties or less to be embracing the internet as a valid means of communication with the people that they represent. While it seems like an obvious idea to many, there are many others still who think it a waste of time. I think it is an incredible act of goodwill to communicate with the youth the way that they communicate with one another.
James
Texas, USA
Good Morning Madam,
I would just like to comment about the current position with the Lisbon Treaty. It seems clear to all the Irish NO Vote has extinguished that piece of legislation completely as it relied upon all members of the Union ratifying it. However, it seems attempts may still be made to do so by the Lords despite the Irish rejection of it, this coming Wednesday. Might I suggest that any such action might be illegal, possibly actionable at civil law, and completely outside the present authority of their Lordships who should only to my mind debate and pass judgment upon live legislation.
Furthermore would HM The Queen be in a position to give Royal assent to a piece of expired legislation.
Perhaps I may have you views on the foregoing.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Carmichael,
Haltemprice,
East Yorks.,
Matthew:
Thanks for your positive feedback Matthew. I had always assumed that the USA would be way ahead of us in the use of the web. And thanks for the recognition that we are real people!
James:
Many thanks for your comment James. I thought it was interesting that you wrote that most people in the House of Lords aren’t politicians. There are plenty of peers who are still, or have been, politicians; however many of these are ‘past ambition’ in terms of party politics, and that does free people up to put an independent view. It also means it’s sometimes easier for this House to innovate, as we did in televising parliament before the Commons, and our current ventures into YouTube and the blogosphere.
Liam:
Thanks Liam – as I said to James, independence is important, and one of the things that is often highlighted as a virtue of the Lords. But those who want to see an elected house would argue that not being “beholden to the public”, i.e. accountable, is exactly the problem. The frustration of being ignored by the media is a recurrent theme throughout the House, particularly as the Lords is often at the forefront of debate on key contemporary issues.
James:
Thank you for your comment James. In some ways the House of Lords has taken a leap of faith with our ventures into blogging and YouTube, as we didn’t know what the reaction would be from users; but the positive response to the Lords of the Blog has been very encouraging and we hope to continue finding new ways of communicating with the public about our work.
Helene Hayman, Lord Speaker
Lord Speaker,
It was good to see you ‘in action’ on the television yesterday !
Perhaps the fact that this blog has raised your profile, and the presence of protesters in the public gallery are not coincidental ?
Well, they do say there is no such thing as bad publicity !
At least it has given you an opportunity to show the wider public what goes on in the House of Lords.
Robert, the role of Lord Speaker demands strict impartiality and this prevents me from expressing an opinion on the political points that you make – but thank you for your contribution.
Helene Hayman, Lord Speaker