There was an interesting debate today, the second reading of the Bill to change the succession to the throne, so that the oldest child succeeds, regardless of gender, and to end the bar on marriage to a Catholic. Some peers also raised the issue of hereditary titles and the property that may attach to them…
One of the pieces of legislation currently completing its passage through the House is the Defamation Bill. The Bill aims to bring the law in this specialist but important area up to date to reflect modern social conditions. But I fear in one significant area the legislation has missed an opportunity – in considering the…
On Tuesday, I took part in the Rehab Parliamentary Pancake Race. The annual contest, now in its sixteenth year, involves teams of MPs, Peers and members of the Press Gallery racing (and flipping) their way around Victoria Tower Gardens in aid of the disability charity, Rehab. Despite allegations of some unparliamentary behaviour, the MPs’ team managed…
In addition to the usual meetings and sittings this week, I was invited to attend meetings in the Palace of Westminster with and on the following inter alia: Racing and Bloodstock, Working Practices of the House, Reform of the House, the Bahraini Parliamentary delegation, the Leveson Inquiry, the Pancake Race, Universities, Aviation Noise, National Libraries, NHS…
Andalusia, in southern Spain, saw harmonious coexistence between Muslims, Christians and Jews for between five and seven hundred years in the Middle Ages. Its capital, Cordoba, was then the largest and richest city in Western Europe. Cordoba therefore provided an ideal setting for the ninth session of the Nyon Process, from 21st to 23rdJanuary 2013. …
Some interesting issues about gender have been discussed this week. First, the Royal Succession. I will not spend long on the (rushed) bill that will enable the first born child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, whether male or female, to succeed. I am sure it is a good thing that the oldest child…
I wonder if any colleagues, or any regular readers, have ever tried to find the “Parliamentary Rifle Range”. For some years, while I was still an MP, there were regular requests for this apparently anachronistic facility, somewhere in the basement, to be replaced with a creche for the children of staff and members of both…
I have previously written about the decline in the volume of letters received in the Palace of Westminster. At the beginning of each year, I put down a question to find out how many items of correspondence were received in the Palace in the preceding year. I have now received the figure for 2012. The…
On Friday the House of Lords took a huge step forward in tackling the scourge of scrap metal theft. We agreed to pass without amendment an excellent private member’s bill originally introduced in the House of Commons by Richard Ottaway MP, and skilfully steered through our House by Baroness Browning, which will completely rewrite the…
