The death of Lord Dearing at the end of last week meant that the House lost a very active member. A former chairman of the Post Office, Lord Dearing was also a towering name in the field of education. The Dearing Report is regarded as a seminal influence. Whenever a Government wanted some problem solving…
I thought I would pose a couple of gentle quiz questions. If they prove relatively easy, I may post another over the course of the weekend. Peer 1 I have been in and out. I have moved about the House. I have been a senior adviser to a global financial institution. I have chaired a major Lords…
In response to my previous post, a number of readers asked about the role of the law lords. Croft raised the question as to whether other peers could participate in judicial business. The judicial work of the House is conducted by an Appellate Committee, comprising Lords of Appeal: these comprise the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the…
The focus of the activity in both Houses is the chamber. If the Houses are not sitting, or even if they are but the chambers are not full, there appears to be an assumption that members are not doing much. When the House is sitting, a great deal of work is taking place away from the chamber. …
Some rather misleading figures have been bandied about in terms of the costs of the House of Lords, both in terms of the overall costs of the House and what allowances individual members may claim. I may do a separate post commenting on costs, but in the interim I thought I would post a statement…
