The debate on the “Gracious Address” (never the ‘Queen’s Speech” please note) carries on for 5 days, as Lady D’Souza has already remarked. Yesterday we had the debate on “Home, Legal and Constitutional Affairs”, with 45 speakers, 2 maiden speeches, Lord Bach kicking off for the Home Team and Lord West of Spithead following up as the ‘rear’ admiral. The debate was a kind of potpourri of personal bees in bonnets, predictable and oft repeated points of view and some genuinely thoughtful and constructive commentary on proposed legislation. But I do wonder if these grand ‘debates’, which could not really be called debates at all since one speech does not follow another but give us random topics only loosely connected. I think personally we could ditch these days without too much trouble.
I must welcome Baroness Deech to our bloggers group, and a splendidly challenging first blog.
A thought-provoking article…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years
Not sure what implications this will have for patients in a coma or persistent vegetative state.
One the one hand we need to err on the side of caution, but what are the implications for the family in future Terri Schiavo type cases ?
“I think personally we could ditch these days without too much trouble.”
I would agree entirely. If the Lords, I hate not including Ladies, and Ladies have to set out their stalls would not a feature such as this blog suffice ? Or perhaps a site where replies would not be allowed ?
There is no legislation involved, afaik, so is it all a bit of a waste ? A waste of heat, light, staff and of course the numerous bus passes ?
“I must welcome Baroness Deech to our bloggers group.”
Does that make 10 my Lady ?
I don’t think giving a legislator a day to speak about a broad topic, outside the narrow confines of any one particular bill, is a waste of time at all! It gives the public a chance to see what a his interests and expertise are and what he can give the House in the future.
The only other chance they get is with a maiden speech. Should those be abolished too? After all, then they are actually taking up valuable debating time on a bill…
Bedd Gelert, There are numerous cases like the one you pointed to and I personally have had patients who were misdiagnosed as being demented or brain dead who certainly were not but care in medical assessment can diagnose these individuals. I don’t think it has implications for such cases as Terry Schiavo even though people often think it does.
Chris K, I’m encouraged if you find the contributions to the Queen’s Speech debate rewarding but honestly perhaps you should come and listen! It’s not that they aren’t about legislation, often they are, but they are random thoughts without a context and that’s the problem. I did sit in today for Lord Sugar of Clapton’s Maiden Speech, a creditable and lively performance, now that was worth listening to.