Today is polling day for national elections in Wales & Scotland, council elections in much of England, the Leicester South by-election, and the Referendum on a new electoral system for the House of Commons. As all the political commentators are saying, it is the first major electoral test of the coalition; and all the parties…
An update from Baroness Jenkin… Half way through day three – in fact half way through the challenge. Phew. Yesterday’s lunch was appreciated by all, and I was flattered by the compliments about my soup, – but I was horrified to find later that I packed it all up before Baroness Jolly arrived for her…
It’s spring so we’ve been doing a few little jobs behind the scenes at Lords of the Blog and tomorrow they’re ready for release. This means that the blog will be down very briefly this morning (Wednesday May 4th), but that should only last for a few minutes… however, just to be on the safe…
This evening, the Hansard Society organised a seminar on referendums. There was a panel comprising Professor Vernon Bogdanor, the journalist Steve Richards, and me – standing in for Peter Riddell, the Society’s chair, who was unable to attend. It was a well attended meeting. Vernon Bogdanor put the case for referendums, though seeing little merit in Thursday’s…
I’m Anne Jenkin (nee Strutt). I became a Conservative Member of the Lords on 27th January. I started working in the House of Commons as a secretary to various MPs in 1977, so the Westminster Village is very much my home. I come from a political family – three of my grandparents were in the…
Reading Baroness Murphy’s post on Bin Laden and Gaddafi below makes me think we have lived so long in relative peace in this country that we have forgotten the danger posed by extreme dictators. So here are some questions to my good colleague: Bin Laden was “murdered” was he? Can you explain how you know…
So Osama Bin Laden is dead, killed by an American military squad. What has been achieved? A demonstration of US power? Yes. Revenge for the Twin Towers? Yes, but revenge doesn’t help anyone, it leads to further counter revenge incidents. It doesn’t help the grieving relatives of atrocities; their grief can only be assuaged by…
I have already done a post on my own blog about the royal wedding on Friday. It was a great event on a number of levels. It demonstrated that when it comes to pageantry, we are among the best, both in terms of logistics and getting the level right (spectacular without being over the top). …
Lord Tyler refers to the brief debate on Thursday on the report from the Procedure Committee. The report includes new rules for the election of the Lord Speaker, a defect having been found in the existing rules. The new rules provide that a Lord Speaker should be elected no later than 15 July every five…
