When I was an MP (nearly ten years ago now), my main line of communication to my constituents was via the very vibrant local Cornish press. I would issue a press release saying what I had done, with a quote from me, and a local journalist would then find a quote from someone else on…
The Transparency Bill – on which I seem to have spent most of my waking hours, excluding the few days with our grandchildren over Christmas – has had some very positive results for the House of Lords. Setting aside the particular areas of agreement and disagreement the reputation of the House has been improved in…
I thought readers would want to know that Google have been in touch with me to make clear that one cannot pay to get to the top of their standard rankings. It is only possible to pay for a sponsored ad, which all of course appear above the standard list of results. They also say…
An apparently innocuous Question from Lord Brabazon of Tara last week motivated some rigorous self-inquiry amongst Peers. How many of us have been caught by official looking websites, topping the list when we googled, selling us services like visa or congestion charge applications at inflated cost, when we could have obtained them free or much cheaper…
Some of the most rewarding – and effective – policy initiatives I have been involved with have been deliberately cross-party. As so many decisions need to be “future-proofed”, and as Parliament becomes more multi-party and less tribal, more work of this kind is both inevitable and welcome. After producing draft bills on Lords Reform (with…
