There I was, minding my own business on the long train journey from Cornwall after the Easter weekend, when my pager told me that there would be Government statement that afternoon. Nothing remarkable in that. A few minutes later a call on my mobile told me that I had to respond to it for the…
Lord Dholakia
5 Years On
Last Thursday, 20th March, was the 5 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. To mark the occasion, Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords tabled a bill demanding that an inquiry into the war begins before the next session of parliament. On Thursday morning, a group of concerned parliamentarians gathered in Old Palace Green…
Lord Norton
Dear Lord….
Parliamentarians, especially MPs, receive a mass of letters. Each year, I put down a question asking how many items of mail were received in the Palace of Westminster in the previous year. Last month, I was given the figures for 2007. A total of 4,199,853 items of post were received. The percentage split between the…
Lord Lucas
Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee
Each week a stack of papers lands on my desk – the regulations published by government that week. Today we considered 90 of them – a pile 6 inches thick. Doubtless I’ll find the chance to comment in more detail later. For today just two thoughts: Inflation is running at 10% plus if SIs are…
Lord Lucas
Careless Government?
Tomorrow I am praying against (usually translated as vainly protesting about) the Education (Student Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2008, which the Government have introduced to remove the entitlement to university maintenance grants and loans from serving prisoners. Why? Is it not obvious that prisoners, already being expensively accommodated at our expense, don’t need or deserve them?…
Baroness D'Souza
To vote or not to vote?
You have three choices; to vote for an amendement, against it or to abstain. Most party political peers tend to vote along the lines set out by their parties – although not always. Independent crossbenchers however haven’t got a ‘party line’ so each vote requires knowledge on the amendment itself. In a sense this means…
Lord Norton
Fixing the date of Easter?
Does anyone have a view as to whether we should have a fixed date for Easter, a fixed Spring bank holiday separate from Easter as a religious occasion, or leave things as they are? The Easter Act 1928 introduced a fixed date but provided that before a draft order could be laid before Parliament ‘regard…
Lord Soley
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill
I listened to Any Answers ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/anyquestions.shtml ) on my car radio this Saturday and was reminded of the strength of feeling on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. I am fairly confident that the majority of people are in favour of the Bill but now that several church leaders have waded in I suspect the argument will get…
Baroness Murphy
Easter brings out bloggers
The pace of blogging is hotting up no end, I see my colleague peers are joining us and that’s great. I try to persuade as many of my colleague crossbenchers as I can, I think I got Baroness Deech hooked the other day but failed with Lord Walton, who reckons as he’s now in his…