Next week will mark the first birthday of Lords of the Blog. Yesterday, we also reached another milestone: we passed the figure of 150,000 visitors since we started blogging. They are not unique visitors and the figure is modest relative to the sites that attract high traffic, such as Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes. However,…
A couple of straightforward questions (I think) for this weekend’s quiz: Peer 1 I am Noble and Learned I have served as a Secretary of State I am a Knight of the Garter The territorial part of my title is the same as that of another distinguished former Cabinet minister who sits on the other…
I am often struck by how revealing the occasional passing comment by a peer can be about their own background. There is a remarkable range of people in the House. I think some time ago I mentioned a peer sat next to me who, when pointing out a member of the public sat below Bar,…
As regular readers will know, I have long supported individual electoral registration. It provides for far greater security than the existing arrangements. This is also the view taken by the Electoral Commission and, according to survey data produced by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, most of the public as well. I am delighted…
I spoke yesterday to a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association seminar which brought together more than sixty parliamentarians and officials from a large number of Commonwealth countries. My task was to open with a paper on the Westminster system of government. This is actually quite a challenging exercise. The Westminster Parliament and the Westminster system of government are…
