Recently there have been debates and seminars about reform of the procedure and governance of the House of Lords. Many serious issues, such as the composition of committees, the scrutiny of bills and so on, have been examined. On a lighter note, it was queried whether peers should still wear the familiar scarlet robes (dating…
It was embarrassing, to say the least, to read reports alleging that Baroness Dunn and Lords Bagri, Foster, McAlpine and Laidlaw had resigned their seats in the Lords rather than sacrifice their non-dom status and tax savings. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 stipulated that a non-dom could not sit in the House of Lords unless he or…
There was an interesting question from Baroness Coussins last week. She asked for the Government response to the Paris declaration of June 23 on the global shortage of qualified linguists, noting that the European Commission had called on countries to invest more in language education in schools. But in this country the study of modern languages beyond the…
The House of Lords is settling the new membership of its Select Committees, all of which fell into abeyance with the general election. There are 16 of them, and the European Union one has 7 subcommittees. I am pleased to have been appointed a member of the House of Lords Communications Committee, the remit of…
Sir Peter North, distinguished legal academic, has recommended in a review that the limit for drink driving should be reduced from 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood to 50mg. He estimated that this would save 168 lives a year, and also recommended that the offence be coupled with a mandatory 12 month ban. The proposed new limit…
