In a recent post, I identified problems with ensuring that government consultations are accessible to interested members of the public. Consultation papers are sent to established groups on a Department’s mailing list but otherwise often just placed on the Department’s website as a means of reaching the public. As a result of the post, I…
In response to my earlier post on tackling political alienation, a couple of respondents suggested increasing the transparency of Westminster – ‘losing the ivory tower effects of the Westminster village’ (DW) – and informing the public more about the basic operations of Parliament (Troika21). Compared with many other parliaments, Westminster is a transparent institution. Votes…
I spoke last night at a meeting organised by the Hansard Society to discuss how to tackle political alienation in this country. There have been suggestions that, given declining trust in Parliament, it is necessary to have radical change of both Parliament and the constitution. The view I expressed was that constitutional and structural change…
A former student has suggested I ask one of the questions about US Presidents that I ask each year in seminars. Conscious that this is a blog about the Lords – but equally conscious that readership increases when I ask questions about US Presidents! – I thought I would offer a link between a feature…
Son of a President, grandson of a Senator My quiz question on the US Presidency attracted attention not only from readers in this country but also in the USA. One US blog raised the question of whether the dominance of the names of Nixon and Bush on presidential tickets meant that the US was acquiring…
