In all the preparations for the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games the Olympic Truce is often overlooked and yet Truce was at the heart of the ancient ideal of the Olympic Games. I believe that London 2012 provides a perfect platform to rediscover that ancient ideal and to light a torch of peace…
Rarely have I felt more positive about a proposed piece of legislation than the higher education provisions that we are about to vote on tomorrow. The progressive Browne plan for free student education, with the Government, not families, paying up front a more realistic tuition fee to individual universities is a vast improvement on the…
On the afternoon of 10th December 243 sixth formers from various schools debated the future of the House of Lords, in the Chamber of the House of Lords. The case was put for four alternatives – abolition, election, appointment and combination. Most students wanted to speak and the level of interest and debate was extremely good.…
Lord Knight mentions that it is a convention that the House of Lords does not reject delegated legislation. As I pointed out in the House recently, when this issue, came up, it has been the usual practice of the House to agree to orders but it has not amounted to a convention. As the Companion…
Thursday was the most alarming day I’ve spent in Westminster. More so than the march against the Iraq war or the Countryside Alliance protest, the atmosphere was intimidating. It felt safer to stay put in the Palace of Westminster, and some Parliamentarians had problems getting in to do their jobs (see Clive Soley’s blog). Like…
The debate in the chamber yesterday, in which teams from four schools each advocated one of the options for the future of the Lords (all appointed, hybrid, abolition, all elected) produced the following results: Fully appointed: 81 Hybrid: 48 Abolition: 26 Fully elected: 8 Congratulations to the team from the Robert Clack School in Dagenham…
I welcomed one of our grand prize-winners and his family to the Lords this week. I hope to have the opportunity to welcome others in the new year. This week’s quiz focuses on minor parties in the House. Media attention tends to be devoted to the main parties and the cross-benchers. As usual, the first…
I was surveying the wreckage from yesterday’s demonstration when I noticed something that says a lot about British democracy and the rule of law. The long running protest by Brian Haw (now joined by others) has been an unsightly part of Parliament Square for some years and various attempts have been made to end it.…
The following exchange at question time yesterday was quite extraordinary. Firstly hearing the Liberal Democrat Minister telling the Conservative Lord Lawson that “We will restore rights to non-violent protest”, left Lord Lawson’s face a picture to behold! More importantly and much more seriously the minister failed to deal with the central question of the right of…
