The House was originally scheduled to have a debate today on developments in Gaza (see my earlier post). However, given the number of peers who have signed up to speak, it has been re-scheduled and a Friday sitting (6 February) cleared for it. As I previously reported, some of those contributing are extremely well qualified to do so.
I anticipate that it will be a debate notable for both the quantity and the quality of speeches. Regrettably, it is not likely to get media coverage on the scale of that accorded to the House over the past day or so.
Well, I wouldn’t bet on it, but I suspect it would be beneath the ‘noble lords’ to garner column inches by the simple expedient of attacking / defending the BBC / Sky News. It might be worth it for the ‘greater good’, but difficult to predict the retribution..
Lord Norton,
Excuse my ignorance, for I don’t know nearly enough about the House of Lords (I suspect I will be able to learn a great deal as I go through this site and read your past blogs-I have only recently discovered this great site).
What is the purpose of this debate? Is the outcome likely to feed into this country’s policy towards the region? or will this debate be in order to draw attention and raise awareness of the situation in the Middle East?
Many thanks
Am sure if the BBC do report on it they won’t give it the coverage it deserves
Magnolia: Thanks for your comments on the site. The debate on 6 February is primarily to draw attention to the situation and to probe the Government’s policy. The debate will be opened by Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office Minister, and he will also respond to the debate. There are presently 37 peers signed up to speak in the debate. As I mentioned in my earlier post, some have experience or expertise that makes them especially well qualified to comment. I hope you enjoy reading through the earlier posts on the site.
Bedd Glert and macarthurmutterings: Thanks for your observations. It will be interesting to see whether the debate gets any coverage at all in the national media. I should add, though, that lack of coverage in the mass media should not be equated with not having any impact. Debates can be, and are, read where it matters, not only in government but by bodies with a particular interest in the subject under discussion.
Debates can be, and are, read where it matters and we matter, in our small way, as will be seen on June 4th.
Lord Norton, more and more people are abandoning the main stream media as it becomes less and less reliable and truthful, just becoming cut ‘n paste journals. An enormous span of information sources is now available to everyone and, with only a little bit of experience of research, anyone can quickly draw out the truth from the dross.
(I wish that some politicians would realise this when they tell blatant lies and so come to see how foolish and untrustworthy they look)
My point is that debates such as proposed here will reach more people through Hansard sources and this blog than is often realised even if it is ignored by the dead tree press and other ‘follow my leader’ media sources (with the exception, of course, of my local newspaper, which is excellent 😉
Surely the answer is to get Baroness Murphy to speak…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7853564.stm
She certainly has a way of capturing attention – she is currently one of the ‘Top Five’ stories on the BBC website…
Off-topic, but related to the issues of conflict resolution..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7855035.stm
Any chance of posting about the plans put forward by Lord Eames ?
This has become an emotive topic, and it is easy for more heat than light to be generated – but I hate jumping to conclusions over such plans without getting the detail behind the headlines. There may be some very laudable aims and advantageous outcomes which are currently being obscured by the furore over this.
Am I to understand that Geert Wilders is going to speak to the House of Lords ? Or is he just being entertained for a ‘speaking lunch’ or some such engagement ? There seem to be few details in the media.
Alfred: “more and more people are abandoning the main stream media as it becomes less and less reliable and truthful”
Don’t abandon the main stream media! We need it.
I instilled into my own when they were growing up to validate anything that would effect their choices in two or three independent ways if at all possible before making a choice. Cynical? Perhaps! But they fare well and I am thankful for it.
What the powerful and influential do as a matter of routine is to use reliable media filters that reduce the uncertainty. Finding them is not easy. Leadership can be a lonely business leaving one feeling cut off from honest unbiased perspectives. This blog for all of its shortcomings is a place for honesty and hopefully declared interests.
Bedd Gelert,
Oh Dear, the way things we do in our youth come back to haunt us. I was a very junior doctor in 1974 when we cooked up the spoof, one evening after dinner I seem to remember. We never expected it to be published, the physical impossibility of the malady being obvious to musicians. i was dreading today’s publication…”another peer brings house into disrepute”, but most colleagues seem to have seen the joke. You’ll just have to believe me I haven’t done anything of this kind since. I was completely taken aback by today’s publicity. Just as well I’m leaving the country tomorrow for a few days, get away from the media calls.
Baroness Murphy
I must congratulate you sincerely on keeping alive the fine Great British tradition of the piss take, although I am saddened by your apparent early retirement from a promising hoaxing career. 35 years is a splendid run for a prank, just think what you could have achieved if you’d kept at it!
Bedd Gelert
What furore? £300M does not seem like an awful lot of money to my mind, given the circumstances. We’re spending more than a hundred times that to try and clear up the mess left by bankers and free market fundamentalists, after all.
Alfred and Senex: The mainstream media will remain important, but the growth of the Internet has created new opportunities for Parliament and parliamentarians to connect directly with members of the public (and vice versa). How we utilise this opportunity is crucial. It represents an innovative technology but whether or not we use it in an innovative way is the crucial issue. I like to think this blog is a modest contribution to enhancing direct interaction. I have been impressed by the exchanges we achieve on the blog and the quality of the contributions.
Bedd Gelert: Geert Wilders was, I understand, to have addressed a meeting but that has now been postponed. On the plans put forward by Lord Eames, I will see if there is much to add to what has already been said. The matter, as you may know, came up in Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons yesterday.
I also read with considerable interest the link to the story about Baroness Murphy. We have certainly benefited from the coverage she received, as some of it mentioned, and linked to, Lords of the Blog.
“We have certainly benefited from the coverage she received, as some of it mentioned, and linked to, Lords of the Blog.”
Aha – so you see there is no such as bad publicity – and it will certainly improve your google ranking. And like ‘window shoppers’, if they are induced to ‘pop in and look around’ they might linger for a while and maybe even stay for a leisurely coffee..
Baroness Murphy – Stop being so apologetic ! I thought it was something of a masterstroke. ‘If you have fun, you’ll get more done’. See this book for details.. – humour is a very important thing in these troubled times.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pearls-Bizdom-How-Grit-Great/dp/1904181821
Does rather remind me of those physics and engineering students who put a car on the roof of their college.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2210696/Cambridge-University%27s-1958-car-on-roof-prank-secrets-revealed.html
We need a few more people like you in the world, it would certainly add to the gaiety of the nation.
Don’t be silly Bedd, she said she has a husband.
Minor admin note: Lord Norton, you appear to have typoed your tags.
McDuff: Well spotted. It is now corrected.
How refreshing that the reorganised debate on Gaza featured some really rational and balanced debate
Special commendation to Lord Turnberg for his thoughtful and helpful contribution.
Extremism on either side does nothing to improve the situation.
Lord Ahmed’s crazy suggestion last week re British nationals and the IDF was so way out that even those who support his side of the argument felt unable to support him. the more extreme people get the less effective they become