A couple of quiz questions. Peer 1 I did a politics degree at Leeds. I served as director of a major Trust. I have held major positions relating to civil servants, judges and to parole. Who am I? Peer 2 I boxed at Oxford. I have held ministerial office. My title has varied depending on where…
The Health Bill is presently going through the Lords. Clause 19 bans shops from displaying cigarettes: “A person who in the course of a business displays tobacco products, or causes tobacco products to be displayed, in a place in England and Wales or Northern Ireland is guilty of an offence”. It is a subject on…
I had some success in Committee on the Political Parties and Elections Bill yesterday in moving an amendment to stipulate that the Secretary of State must reply within six months to a report from the Electoral Commission. Under the Political Parties. Elections amd Referendums Act 2000, the Commission may make reports to the Secretary of…
The Committee stage of the Political Parties and Elections Bill began yesterday and continued today. As I already had a fairly full diary for both days, it has been a case of rushing in and out of committee and from meeting to meeting. Yesterday’s schedule was basically: in early to complete a memorandum to the Information…
There was a statement on swine fever on Monday. A flu pandemic has been feared for some years and it was one of the issues covered in the report of the Intergovernmental Organisations Select committee that I chaired. http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm74/7475/7475.pdf The UK has a leading role in the identification and treatment of infectious diseases and we found…
To be treated with respect and dignity. This is the most basic of Human Rights. Yet hundreds of Britain’s elderly citizens are denied this. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) recently published a shocking report. The report, Rights, Risks and Restraints, is based on a survey of 253 older people and their carers and…
Given the speed with which yesterday’s quiz question was answered, here’s a second one. How many former party leaders sit in the House of Lords and who are they?
I thought I would pose a quick and straightforward quiz question. Depending on how quickly it is answered, I may post another over the course of the weekend. How many women have held the post of Leader of the House of Lords? Who are they?
Frank Field MP has been complaining that MPs are left with little to do, as the Government has no legislative programme of any note. He may possibly change his mind when the juggernauts of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill – which had its eleventh, and final, day in committee in the Lords yesterday –…
