The House yesterday debated the current economic situation. I mentioned in an earlier post some of the speakers who would be taking part. The debate can be found at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/81103-0002.htm#0811039000009 The quality of the debate was commented on by the minister, Baroness Vadera, in her speech winding-up for the Government: “My Lords, it is rare…
I mentioned in an earlier post Lord Rowlands’ booklet on the House of Lords in the early eighteenth century. One notable feature of the House was that on occasion peers could sit in silence for fifteen or thirty minutes before anyone rose to say anything. Another distintive feature was the existence of proxy voting. An…
A friend has drawn my attention to a question that appeared in The Times a few days ago. I missed it but I thought I would reproduce it as it is such a good question. When was the last US presidential election which was won by the Republicans in which a Nixon or a Bush was…
On Tuesday, Americans will go to the polls. They will choose between two principal candidates. The focus on their relative merits has rather obscured discussion of the process by which they became candidates. Both have risen to the top despite not having any executive experience. The last Senator to be elected President was John Kennedy…
There will be a full debate in the House on Monday on the current economic situation. More than forty peers will be taking part. Lord Myners will lead for the Government. Speakers will include eight peers who have served in the Treasury (three as Chancellor of the Exchequer), economists (including four professors), leading figures in…
