Merry Christmas. I know it is a time for rest, but for me the Christmas vacation is a time for catching up on work. It is also an occasion when I have more time to think about topics I wish to write about on the blog. The result is that you may see several posts from me…
A peer introduced a Private Member’s Bill in 2001 to provide that large stores could not trade on Christmas Day. Under the Sunday Trading Act 1994 large stores could not trade when Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, but were not prohibited from trading if it fell on another day. This Bill sought to extend…
In my previous post, I referred to the late Lord Longford’s A History of the House of Lords. In it, he refers to the post-war House and the work of the then Marquess of Salisbury, a Conservative Cabinet minister in the 1950s and an advocate of reform of the House; his pressure was probably responsible…
In an earlier post, I recounted the last occasion a member of the Lords had been tried by his peers (Lord de Clifford in 1935). I mentioned that 86 peers opted to serve in hearing the case, compared with 500 who had sat to hear the case against Earl Russell in 1901 when he was…
The successor to Sir Michael Willcocks as Black Rod was announced last week. Sir Michael finishes his term of office next May and will be succeeded by Lt-Gen. Sir Freddie Viggers. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and Serjeant at Arms of the House of Lords – to use his full title – is best known…
