It has been a very bad month for those who care about raising our children in a way that develops their potential to the fullest and equips them for a secure future. (It is always an indication of trouble when the headlines refer to them as “kids”!) First, the extraordinary action of so-called caring parents to keep their children out of…
For close to a year I chaired the Lords’ Equality Act 2010 and Disability Committee. It was set up in June 2015 to examine the impact of the Equality Act on disabled persons, a group who had once enjoyed the protection of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, designed solely for them. Now all 9 “protected characteristics” (gender…
Recent depressing news reports that some graduates from lower performing universities go on to earn less after ten years in work than those who did not go to university at all (Institute of Fiscal Studies). Creative arts and communications studies graduates earned less than those who studied economics and medicine; women earned less than men and…
There was an important debate in the Lords on 10th March on the future of the BBC. So many people signed up to speak that they were allocated only one minute each, and there were several references by speakers to that well known radio 4 programme in which speakers have to avoid hesitation, repetition or deviation. …
The recent defeat in the Commons of a proposal to give freedom to locals to decide about longer Sunday shopping hours defies belief. I understand that pious MPs want to keep Sunday special with space for religious worship and family meals. But there is plenty of time for that for those who want it, and…
