Despite the supposed in-built Government majority in the House of Lords, the Government lost a further three votes this week on the European Union Bill. On Monday, the Government lost a division on an amendment moved by a former UK Ambassador to the United Nations, Lord Hannay, by 214 votes to 209. (There was second…
Lord Fowler had the first question on Thursday and used it to call for an enquiry on telephone hacking by newspapers. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110616-0001.htm#11061643000197 I came in on a case I took up some years ago when the then editor of the Sun, Stuart Higgins, was involved in a case of sexual harassment of staff. He left the…
It was a good day yesterday to observe the totally different styles of debate in the Commons and the Lords. At 3.53pm Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health started giving his statement in the Commons about the government’s response to the NHS Futures Forum (That’s the ‘listening exercise’ to suggest ways of amending the…
I am writing this from Abu Dhabi. I came here last Saturday and am returning tomorrow night. My purpose was to establish a post graduate school of law with outreach to Palestine in order to advance the rule of law in the region. Zayed University http://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/ is going to host it as a Masters degree and…
For those who had a look at my last post (All Square?), I was very glad to have some support from comments here, as well as from other Peers who spoke. However, the most encouraging reaction was from my Liberal Democrat colleague, Lord (William) Wallace of Saltaire, the Minister replying to the debate. By happy…
When I start my Lords’day at 7.00 am or so, there is nothing more irritating than reading yet another press story saying we peers just pop in to collect our £300 daily expenses. It is particularly galling when it appears in the Sunday Times, where I worked for six happy years, and which reported…
When Lord Goodlad’s committee on working practices in the House suggested we should normally sit at 2.00pm rather than 2.30pm I had thought it rather non-contentious. Turns out not! Quite a lot of murmurings from the back-benches about rushing lunch guests through lunch, as if they couldn’t start their entertaining half an hour earlier. And…
The Acropolis and the Parthenon are to Athens and the Greeks what Nelson’s Column and Big Ben are to London and to the British. They are more than monuments; they are statements of what it means to be Greek. So, how might we react if a Greek diplomat hired a firm of dodgy builders to…
Congratulations to Emmy and Dave H, who were the winners of the previous quiz, and a commendation to danfilson for getting in first with the answer to the first question. The answers showed the range of choice for identifying peers who have led trades unions and who are ministers of religion. This week the focus…
