Author Archives: Baroness Deech

Running for your life

Baroness Deech 25/04/2012 – 10:47 pm

A terrible tragedy occurred when a lovely young woman collapsed and died towards the end of the London Marathon last weekend.  She had entered in order to raise funds for the Samaritans.  In consequence, about £700,000 has been donated in her memory by members of the public to this good cause.  This is a great benefit [...]

Snail mail

Baroness Deech 13/04/2012 – 8:39 pm

The price of first class stamps is to rise to 60p at the end of this month.  That’s 12/-.  Like everybody else I went to the post office and stocked up.  But I have to warn you followers of my blog, no more Xmas cards from me, they will be too expensive.  The reason the [...]

Boys’ Clubs

Baroness Deech 07/04/2012 – 2:47 pm

Women were first admitted to the House of Lords in 1958.  It is amazing that it took so long and yet now women are very much to the forefront of the business of the Lords.  In fact, I think I can say that the House is the most egalitarian of the institutions I have worked [...]

Pasty wars

Baroness Deech 31/03/2012 – 9:48 am

The humble Cornish pasty has become a symbol of what was disliked about the Budget last week.  Why should VAT  be charged on this warm popular staple food item, when most food is zero-rated? I confess that I have not eaten a pasty since I was a child.  I pass lots of pasty sellers as I [...]

A Moral Accounting

Baroness Deech 29/03/2012 – 2:54 pm

On 26th March, I asked a question: “What steps will HMG take to ensure that fellow signatories to the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets fulfil the obligations of the Declaration in relation to the restitution of wrongfully seized property?” It was scheduled as “dinner break business”, which means that one gets an hour on [...]