It should come as no surprise that Rupert Murdoch wants to back Alex Salmond’s independence policy. It’s the same policy that leads him to oppose EU membership. Anything that protects his power and diminishes the power of the regulator is his idea of good governance. Breaking up the United Kingdom weakens all the constituent parts.…
This is the third part of my article on Lords reform and follows from the two below. Read this and then prepare yourself in body and soul for the last terrifying instalment! This brings me to the critically important issue of the scrutiny of legislation. Select Committees in the Commons do a good job on…
The House recently lost another doughty member in the form of Lord Ashley of Stoke. Jack Ashley, when he was an MP, lost his hearing. He learned to lip-read and later regained some partial hearing. In the Lords, he had the facility of a machine that transposed what was being said into words on a…
This section deals with another problem associated with the Government draft Bill. It follows on from my post below. I agreed to go to the Lords in 2005 and I remember going in for the first time and seeing a line of wheel chairs plugged in to charging points – and the debate was on…
A terrible tragedy occurred when a lovely young woman collapsed and died towards the end of the London Marathon last weekend. She had entered in order to raise funds for the Samaritans. In consequence, about £700,000 has been donated in her memory by members of the public to this good cause. This is a great benefit…
As a newly elected MP in 1979 it seemed obvious to me that we needed to elect the Lords. No question about it! Unelected legislators in the age of democracy – it must be wrong! So like most MPs I took it for granted that Labour’s election manifesto of 1910 must finally be honoured. I…
I was taking part yesterday in a conference, held in Portcullis House, on Parliaments and human rights. It had an international focus but also addressed the role of the UK Parliament. I spoke on what I saw as the strengths and weaknesses of our current arrangements and proferred some modest thoughts as to how we…
The House of Lords is not sitting this week. However, the fact that the House is not sitting does not mean nothing is happening at our end of the Palace. Some committees continue to meet – I have a meeting this afternoon of the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee (we have a large number of Statutory…
The price of first class stamps is to rise to 60p at the end of this month. That’s 12/-. Like everybody else I went to the post office and stocked up. But I have to warn you followers of my blog, no more Xmas cards from me, they will be too expensive. The reason the…
