Last week the Olympic Delivery Authority may have been able to proudly declare that construction work was 88% complete, but in one crucial area work has barely started—The Olympic Truce. The Olympic Truce is a Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly which requires all signatories to “pursue initiatives for peace and reconciliation in the…
Last week I spent a few days in Cairo encouraging some of the parties now preparing for elections. I first met members of the Lib Dem sister party, the Democratic Front, a few years ago when democracy in Egypt seemed to be a far off aim. None of them would have predicted the speed of…
This is worth looking at if you are interested in attempts to combat extremism. http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/component/content/article/61-press-releases/841-before-a-after-the-norway-massacre-symbiosis-between-anti-muslim-extremists-and-islamist-extremists.html
I have just returned from a family law conference about parenting, at which I gave a paper on childrearing and the law. It was entitled The Children of No-Fault Divorce. In it I set out the results of research that show that poverty and family breakdown are major issues in children’s failure to reach their potential. In fact family breakdown…
Wednesday of last week was the final sitting day before the summer recess. The conclusion of the sitting was unusual because members broke into applause. It was the last sitting presided over by the current Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman. As she left the chamber, peers broke into spontaneous applause, in appreciation of all her work as our…
What a tragedy to hit Norway with its history of tolerance and freedom. The actions of Anders Behring Breivik are not in my view the actions of a madman. I am increasingly concerned about the danger of religious ideologies replacing political ideologies. Extreme interpretations of all ideologies are profoundly dangerous. The 20th century was characterised…
Congratulations to Jonathan and Jason Lower, who were winners of the previous quiz. As they and other contributors showed, the House is not short of members with experience of the press. This time, the questions relate to peers who are not permitted to sit while holding particular offices. As usual, the first two readers to…
The Joint Committee on the draft House of Lords Reform Bill at its first meeting agreed the text for its call for evidence and that has now been published. You can find details here. There is also a link to the White Paper and the draft Bill. Submissions are invited on all aspects of the…
At Question Time in the House of Lords this morning Lord Grocott asked the Leader of the House, Lord Strathclyde how many representations had been received from the public in response to the House of Lord Reform Draft Bill and White Paper. He replied that a modest number of letters and other written submissions had…
