I have just watched The Iron Lady, a film about Baroness Thatcher’s life. It does not deal with her period in the House of Lords at all, but focuses on her rise to, and tenure of the position of the first and, so far, the only female Prime Minister of this country. In most ways,…
Mary Portas, shopping guru, has delivered to the Prime Minister a review of the state of our high streets and town centres. I was able to get a copy from the Printed Paper Office of the Lords. I noticed this weekend that there are considerably fewer people out shopping on my own local high street…
The death has just been announced of Sir Zelman Cowen, former Governor General of Australia, former Vice-Chancellor, former Provost of Oriel College Oxford, great constitutional lawyer and historian; widely regarded as a man of the utmost integrity, intellect and kindliness, no one had a bad word to say about him. I met him when he…
On Wednesday 7th there was a brief diversion from the progress of the consideration of amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill. Baroness Thornton proposed a motion that the House should be able to see the risk register pertaining to the Bill. The Information Commissioner had ruled that it should be disclosed under the…
Perhaps it was not unexpected that David Willetts, Universities Minister, should have been forced to abandon his speech about the Idea of a University in Cambridge on 22nd, when students took over and prevented him from continuing. This sort of blocking of free speech goes back a long way in universities, and it was that…
