I was speaking the week before last at the Dukeries College in Nottinghamshire and one pupil asked about compulsory voting. I asked the opinion of the audience. There was a majority, but only a small one, against making voting compulsory. When I asked the same question last week to pupils at Bradfield College, Near Reading, there…
Not surprisingly, the Lords has been getting some unfavourable coverage as a result of the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions not to prosescute Baroness Uddin in the light of the vague rules governing a peer’s principal residence. The Clerk of the Parliaments yesterday issued a statement explaining his interpretation. In it, he also refers to the…
A few straightforward questions this week to identify some peers who at some point have moved from one party to another or from one party to the cross-benches. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners. 1. I am a cross-bench peer, but I was elected to the…
Yesterday was something of a Lords of the Blog day in the Lords. Not surprisingly, the blog was mentioned in Lord Renton’s debate on the Information Committee’s report, Are the Lords Listening? It was also mentioned in debate on the Financial Services Bill. The Information Committee report was debated in Grand Committee. Lord Renton mentioned…
This week’s quiz covers cross-bench peers. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners. 1. There are presently 182 cross-bench peers. How many are former party leaders? 2. Unionist peers are no longer included in the figures for cross-bench peers. Who are the three Democratic Unionist peers sitting in…
