Lords of the Blog » Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net Life and Work in the House of Lords Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:09:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Technology and Xmas shopping http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/23/technology-and-xmas-shopping/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/23/technology-and-xmas-shopping/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:05:04 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=9022 Standing in the rain waiting for a bus to to take me to complete my Christams shopping I used the text message advertised on the bus stops which enables you to know when the bus is coming. True – I got a few odd looks from the rural bus queue in Oxfordshire as I typed in the numbers to text but I really do find it helpful and so far the bus has always arrived within 4 minutes of the stated time and usually within two minutes – not bad. I like new technology!

Happy holidays and New Year to all blog readers!!

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/23/technology-and-xmas-shopping/feed/ 10 Myanmar and the rule of law http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/20/myanmar-and-the-rule-of-law/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/20/myanmar-and-the-rule-of-law/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:00:22 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=9000 I had a useful meeting with the Ambassador of Myanmar last week. He and his deputy were interested in the rule of law project I have established in Abu Dhabi and Palestine. This regime is now keen to change and have entered into meaningful discussions with Aung San Suu Kyi. So I am looking at the possibility of helping to establish links with legal groups and academia here to see if we can assist in the promotion of the rule of law.

The Ambassador is saying the right things. He is acknowledging the need to change but worried about the pace of change and whether they can maintain stability in the nation while change takes place. Encouraging but difficult. The army is a very powerful influence in Myanmar and like Egypt, they will find it difficult to let go of the reins of power.

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/20/myanmar-and-the-rule-of-law/feed/ 4 North Korea – the world ducks a moral challenge http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/20/north-korea-the-world-ducks-a-moral-challenge/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/20/north-korea-the-world-ducks-a-moral-challenge/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:45:19 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8997 It would be hard to imagine a more brutal and dangerous regime then that in  North Korea. Raving optimists will hope that this family dynasty will suddenly convert to democracy and the rule of law. I don’t think so. I desperately hope I can be proved wrong but I doubt it. And yet if China and Russia would abandon their policy of ‘no regime change’ it would be possible to bring some hope to the poor people of North Korea.

Around the world dictatorships are crumbling, despite popular images, the world is becoming a more peaceful place. Future generations will wonder why we allowed North Korea to continue on its tragic path – the answer will be ‘because China and Russia propped it up.’

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/20/north-korea-the-world-ducks-a-moral-challenge/feed/ 19 Nano technology and the economy http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/11/nano-technology-and-the-economy/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/11/nano-technology-and-the-economy/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:21:44 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8946 Lord Haskel who oftens puts posts on here talking of the importance of manufacturing led a useful debate last Thursday. I spoke of the importance of science and technology in the 6 minutes allocated to me. I wanted to draw attention to the rapidly expanding influence of nano technology and did so in the following paragraph:

Nanotechnology is of immense importance. This is something that this country is doing an awful lot on but an awful lot of people will not know what it is. It is the manipulation of matter at a sub-atomic level, and enables us to develop new products which are self-generated by the nanotechnology that underpins it. We are very good at that in biology, chemistry and so on. We have a lead on that very largely because of the National Health Service, which provides an enormous market for drugs and many other matters related to the advanced technologies. It is time we not only used that in our exports around the world-which we do-but recognised that many people look to the health service; which, for reasons that escape me, we keep reorganising, with some bizarre idea that yet another reorganisation will somehow answer these problems. Many people overseas look to not only the science-the biology and chemistry-underpinning what the National Health Services does for us but to its organisation. We could actually sell that service overseas.

The full debate and the rest of my contribution can be read here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/111208-0001.htm#11120862000759

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/11/nano-technology-and-the-economy/feed/ 10 Britain and the EU http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/09/britain-and-the-eu-2/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/09/britain-and-the-eu-2/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:00:33 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8934 Whether as a result of political inexperience or fear of his own backbenchers David Cameron has marginalised the UK in Europe and that won’t be easily reversed. It poses a challenge to all British political parties and their leaders.
The 26 EU members will create a much closer political and economic union and they can do that by adding new treaty arrangements and shared policies. Britain will not be able to veto that.
A future British Prime Minister will have to sign up to the new arrangements with only minimal change or accept that we are going to be an outsider in the EU. It is perfectly possible to make a case for Britain outside the EU but it has enormous implications for our future policies and how we are seen in the world. Sadly Cameron does not recognise this. The veto was a political act – not an act of statesmanship.
The continental countries see the EU as a political choice that deals with Europe’s fractious past. Alone of the warring countries of the two world wars Britain was neither defeated nor occupied. It makes the British more sceptical of political union. We are an island nation and we have close international links especially with the English speaking world. So we are and always have been ambivalent about too close a union. This is not caused by the anti-European press although they aggravate it. It is a fact of British life that has to be addressed. The continental Europeans after the Second World War wanted Britain in (with the exception of France under De Gaulle). Now they are fed up with our foot-dragging and critical comments from the side lines. There is good reason to believe they now think that Britain will never be a full member of the EU.
If Cameron is still Prime Minister in five years’ time then he will have to accept that we can have little influence on future European policy. If it is another Prime Minister with a more pro-European approach they will have to accept that joining the Euro and the inner circle will have to be done on European terms.
If the Euro sceptics in the Tory Party are still in control then Britain will be manoeuvred out of the EU into an associate membership status.
The Labour Party in opposition is not going to get away with saying that Cameron messed up. They have to talk about a strategy for a Labour Government. Do they say that Britain has to join at a later date? And if so, what terms can they hope to negotiate? If they stay on the side lines do they opt for an associate status? What of Britain’s economic and political future? Are we to attempt a larger Switzerland model or choose a closer relationship with the US – an option not entirely without friends in the Republican Party?
Britain needs a statesman at the helm now and there is no sign of one riding to our rescue. My best guess is that Britain has now cast the dice and the result will be a nation linked to the EU by an associate agreement. It won’t happen overnight but in my judgement it will happen.
The Liberal Democrats? Well whoever thought they would end up being passively complicit in a Britain outside the EU! Nick Clegg has little room for manoeuvre and there is no sign of statesmanship there either.

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I shall return to the issue – this is the point at which the UK has to decide what sort of relationship it wants with Europe and with the wider world.

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/09/eu-in-or-out/feed/ 17 Winds of Change 2 http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/07/winds-of-change-2/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/07/winds-of-change-2/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:00:27 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8907 On the 3rd October 2011 I wrote a post on the relationship between the UK and the EU ( http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/10/03/winds-of-change/ ) I think the potential threat to British policy is growing more significant. David Cameron is being excluded from the key decisions in Europe. Germany and France are determined to put the political structure of the EU before the immediate solution of the economic crisis.

After the Second World War the countries of Europe and particularly Germany were very anxious to have the UK fully involved. France alone ( under De Gaulle) was reluctant. I think our reluctance to be a full member has led over the years to a feeling in Continental Europe that if we don’t want to be fully involved then the key members will make progress towards a united Europe on their own. I think they will succeed.

We forget in Britain that the political imperative in Europe is driven by strong memories of nations defeated and occupied in two disastrous wars. Britain alone of the warring nations was neither defeated nor occupied. So the Continental powers do have a more compelling political drive then we do.

I think the Euro will succeed and it looks increasingly likely that we will remain outside. In these circumstances Frankfurt will become the financial centre for Europe and increasingly challenge the City of London. As the other nations sign up to the Euro Britain will be forced to choose between  joining the new super power or becoming an important but much reduced power outside. What happens then will largely be determined by policies in the new Europe. Will they want to erect trade barriers? Will they negotiate for the UK in international treaties like trade and climate change – or will we negotiate on our own? Will they create their own defence structures? Will Britain retain its seat on the UN Security Council of the UN or be replaced by a new European member?

We need to be thinking of these issues because Europe is no longer waiting for us.

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/12/07/winds-of-change-2/feed/ 12 DNA Data base http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/30/dna-data-base/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/30/dna-data-base/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:58:39 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8875 There was a useful debate on the government’s desire to reduce the data base for DNA in cases where people have been suspected of involvement in crime. It is a couple of years ago that I suggested a voluntary data base which would be open to all and which I hoped would become a national base when people saw that it did not pose a risk  but would offer very real advantages.

The advantages are:

1. Deterrence. A potential rapist or murderer will know that their chances of being caught are greatly increased;

2. Protection against wrongrful conviction. It is a very strong tool to avoid wrongful convictions;

3. It would increase the chance off catching a serious violent offender which in the case of serial killers could save many lives.

I felt the debate did not pay sufficient attention to victims and potential victims. Read on: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/111129-0001.htm#11112947000485

PLEASE NOTE: THE LINK GIVEN ABOVE TAKES YOU TO A POINT IN THE DEBATE WELL PAST THE RELEVANT AMMENDMENT. PLEASE SCROLL UP TO FIND THE AMMENDMENT MOVED BY BARONESS ROYALL. I WILL TAKE THIS UP WITH HANSARD.

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/30/dna-data-base/feed/ 9 The Boarding School Bomber http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/28/the-boarding-school-bomber/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/28/the-boarding-school-bomber/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:30:13 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8845 I watched the Boarding School Bomber programme on BBC3  last week. I found it very powerful and moving. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017nghc/The_Boarding_School_Bomber/

It raises a number of questions about the way Al-Quaeda targets the young and vulnerable and also the difficult issue of how a friend or a community reacts when they see someone close to them getting into serious trouble.

]]> http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/28/the-boarding-school-bomber/feed/ 8 Greece versus the World http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/04/greece-versus-the-world/ http://lordsoftheblog.net/2011/11/04/greece-versus-the-world/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:16:57 +0000 Lord Soley http://lordsoftheblog.net/?p=8678 There is something rather poignant about the birthplace of Western democracy putting the world on hold while they work out what they want to do!

A bit scary too!!

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