The past week has been a busy one for the House in considering constitutional issues. On Monday, there was a question for short debate (QSD) on the role of the House in the event of reform. Such debates are time-limited – in this case to ninety minutes – and there were so many speakers that…
The House of Lords has variously addressed how to enhance communicating with the people, enabling people to know what the House is doing and providing the means for those interested in the business of the House to make their views known. Recently, as regular readers will know, the issue was addressed in the report of the Information…
In earlier posts, I raised the issue of drug use and whether or not we should consider its decriminalisation. As a result of the many comments made by readers, I came to the conclusion that there was a case to establish a Royal Commission, or a committee of inquiry, to examine our drug laws. I was reminded of…
Three relatively straightforward questions for this week’s quiz. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners, though there will be a commendation for any reader supplying one or more correct answers. I plan shortly to publish a roll call of honour of our principal winners. 1. Who is…
The Lords returned yesterday. The main business was a debate on the role of the charitable sector in strengthening civil society, introduced for the Government by Lord Taylor of Holbeach. Thirty-seven peers spoke in the debate. It was an extremely good debate, notable for the fact that no less than seven new peers made maiden speeches. Perhaps the…
