I was taking part yesterday in a conference, held in Portcullis House, on Parliaments and human rights. It had an international focus but also addressed the role of the UK Parliament. I spoke on what I saw as the strengths and weaknesses of our current arrangements and proferred some modest thoughts as to how we…
The House of Lords is not sitting this week. However, the fact that the House is not sitting does not mean nothing is happening at our end of the Palace. Some committees continue to meet – I have a meeting this afternoon of the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee (we have a large number of Statutory…
I have previously written about having a fixed date for Easter. Parliament enacted the Easter Act 1928, but it has never been brought into effect because its commencement was based on the churches reaching agreement. Various readers identified problems with stipulating a fixed date, but I see no reason why we should not separate the date…
I have been somewhat distracted by writing commitments, so apologies for the delay in setting the latest quiz. What I think will prove difficult questions do not always turn out to be that difficult for readers, whereas some I think are straightforward turn out to be problematic. This quiz question is, I think, a difficult one, but…
The death of Lord Newton of Braintree, at the age of 74, has deprived Parliament of what one blog has described as one of the good guys in politics. Tony Newton served not only as a conscientious MP but also as Social Security Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. He entered the Lords in…
