The BBC’s admirable Mark D’Arcy has done a post on his blog about the pressure on resources in the Lords: “On the Turkeys/Early Christmas principle, a lot of peers instinctively oppose reform of the House of Lords, but there is one internal factor that may work in favour of change – it’s getting rather crowded in…
The letters column of The Times has carried letters from readers for whom AV is causing problems as, for them, it means something other than the Alternative Vote. For some, for example, it means the Authorised Version of the Bible. I know the problem. I am a member of the International Political Science Association. However,…
One new peer recently asked if I had any advice for a new member. There are a few points I would offer. I thought I would share these with readers, especially those who are avid viewers of BBC Parliament, as one can observe debates to see to what extent they are followed. 1. Get to…
The Crossman Diaries, published in the mid 1970s, broke convention by publishing accounts of confidential Cabinet discussions. In the event, the courts did not stop their publication, but until recently there was a rule that secret government papers, including cabinet papers, could not be made public until 30 years had passed. This has been reduced to 20 years…
As a lifelong atheist I do know how it feels to believe your view is the right one even when you are in a minority in a world of religious believers. However Baroness Murphy shows a touching faith in the rightness of Governments which I did not even share when I was a Minister in…
The EU and sport probably aren’t two things that are often thought of together but a Committee which I chair has spent the past few months considering just that. The Lisbon Treaty gave the EU for the first time a formal competence to act in the field of sport. It is a limited competence and…
We benefit a lot from the discoveries made by science. But we can also benefit from the way that science thinks. David Brookes hinted at this in an article last week in the Herald Tribune about tools for thinking. For instance, when an issue has many facets we try to take a “holistic view”. We try to…
Andrew Lansley’s Commons statement on the Government’s decision to pause and think further on the Health and Social Care Bill was read in our Chamber by Earl Howe this evening, a sensible decision given the political noise. Lady Thornton doesn’t like it, very few people like it. I may prove to be the only person in Parliament…
The Commons ended their Committee consideration of the Health and Social Care Bill last Thursday. The proceedings illustrate that parallel universes really do exist. There is the one inhabited by Simon Burn MP, his boss Andrew Lansley MP and other Health Ministers and then there is the world the rest of us inhabit. The first…
