I recently complained to the ASA about a “Cotton Traders” ad for clothes by post which added in an “insurance” charge – albeit with an asterisk to a note below. This note showed that the insurance in fact only ensured that the stuff arrived in 7 days, and did not cover the goods themselves (and…
I’m a nutter, according to Prince Charles! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/11387237/Prince-Charles-called-Labour-peer-a-nutter-for-trying-to-reform-Duchy-of-Cornwall.html xd150208 Nutter I have a private member’s bill waiting second reading in the lords, which is designed to make the necessary changes to legislation so that the Duchy of Cornwall is classed as a private entity, alongside many other private estates. The Duchy, in its Consultation Document…
In a previous post I have drawn attention to the decline in the volume of written correspondence flowing into the Palace of Westminster. I have now received the data for 2014. One can see from the following table the clear trend. The figures for 2005 onwards are (with the percentage going to the Lords in parenthesis): 2005 …
Some years ago a prominent politician was castigated for not knowing the price of milk. It meant he was out of touch with everyday matters. In actual fact, as a shopper, I know that knowing the price of milk is not that easy – is it organic, skimmed, semi-skimmed, full-cream, half litre, one litre, two…
Just in case anyone outside the Palace of Westminster has been fooled by the recent deceitful diatribes that “MPs are lazy and given up on their Parliamentary duties” or “this final fifth year has turned us into a Zombie Parliament” I offer the following exchanges in the Lords today: Lord Grocott: To ask Her Majesty’s…
When the first vote took place on 16 January on an amendment to the Assisted Dying Bill, the result was announced as 107 for the amendment and 180 against. However, this was later corrected when it was found that one peer had voted in both lobbies. In the Lords, if a peer votes in both…
For 45 years, the UK has debated achieving the ODA target of 0.7% of GDP/GNI set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 2626 in 1970. In 2013, with cross-party agreement at last, the UK became the first of the G8 states to achieve that 0.7% target. And on Friday 12 September 2014 164 MP’s across…
I rarely comment on religious affairs, but here is an example of a Welsh reverend with a parish in Blaenau Ffestiniog. He has put in a lot of effort to encourage economic regeneration there, including business involve with the railway there. He is a regular visitor to Romania (as am I on occasions) and Bulgaria,…
Some people query the value of Private Members’ Bills on the grounds that relatively few make it to the statute book. My view is that they are extremely valuable for raising issues, getting them debated and, in so doing, testing the arguments for and against. Some of the issues covered by Private Members’ Bills attract far…
