With the death of Lord Dahrendorf, the House of Lords has lost one of its most distinguished members. A renowned sociology professor, he served as Parliamentary Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs before becoming a European Commissioner. He moved to the UK to become Director of the London School of Economics. …
Tuesday’s question for short debate, put by Lord Renton – “To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the connection between Parliament and the public” – can be read here. Because of the number of speakers, each – other than Lord Renton and the minister – had a maximum of three minutes. …
We have had Report stage this week of the Political Parties and Elections Bill. On Monday, I had a good day: the Government introduced an amendment regarding the Electoral Commission to meet a point I raised in Grand Committee. They also provided an assurance in response to another of my amendments. Yesterday was more problematic:…
It has been a hectic week. I have been building up a list of things to blog about: the London bus syndrome may apply shortly. In the meantime, I thought readers may be interested in an exchange between Liberal Democrat peer Lord Thomas of Gresford and the minister, Lord Tunnicliffe, at the conclusion of the…
I am giving below the full text of the reply to me of 4th June 2009 by the then Minister of State at the Foreign Office. It is similar to many previous replies. “Thank you for your recent letters about the issues of movement and access in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Palestinian prisoners and humanitarian…
Nick Griffin is one man who is happy to have egg on his face. Last week the BNP leader attempted to hold a press conference outside parliament. Anti-racist groups threw eggs at him. As I watched the television pictures I could see him smiling as the eggs made impact. He is shrewd enough to know…
If anyone reads this in Iran I would like them to know that I feel for them very much at the present time. The Presidential elections appear to have been stolen. Otherwise why would so many unnecessary additional ballot papers and ballot boxes have been produced? I am an independent member of our Parliament and…
There was an item on the BBC Today programme this morning on peers’ expenses. It was a rather unusual report. It opened by saying that “this programme has learned” that two peers are being investigated over their expenses, as if this was something not previously known. Perhaps no one at the BBC reads The Sunday Times. …
I’m getting a break today from the Lords, heading down to the South West with Monitor to visit NHS hospitals and authorities. So I got time to read a paper this morning. A wonderfully funny article by Libby Purves in the Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article6498709.ece) is really worth a read if only for light relief. When I…
