CAABU is the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding. Never has it been more needed than NOW. In the Arab Spring, or Uprising, we have seen three Arab dictators overthrown, and major reforms in two Arab monarchies, while in Syria and Iraq the future is uncertain. CAABU is urgently needed to interpret the Arab world to…
I have just returned from Ankara. The total number of prisoners in Turkey more than doubled between 2005 and this year, from 55,000 to 130,000. Many are held without charge, pending eventual trial, often under the Terrorism Law. 175 persons per 100,000 population are now gaoled. Turkey imprisons about twice as many journalists as either…
I have previously written about having a fixed date for Easter. Parliament enacted the Easter Act 1928, but it has never been brought into effect because its commencement was based on the churches reaching agreement. Various readers identified problems with stipulating a fixed date, but I see no reason why we should not separate the date…
I have been somewhat distracted by writing commitments, so apologies for the delay in setting the latest quiz. What I think will prove difficult questions do not always turn out to be that difficult for readers, whereas some I think are straightforward turn out to be problematic. This quiz question is, I think, a difficult one, but…
Women were first admitted to the House of Lords in 1958. It is amazing that it took so long and yet now women are very much to the forefront of the business of the Lords. In fact, I think I can say that the House is the most egalitarian of the institutions I have worked…
Please follow this link to my Question to HMG about Ethiopa and Eritrea, and the Horn of Africa, which was answered by Lord Howell of Guildford.
The humble Cornish pasty has become a symbol of what was disliked about the Budget last week. Why should VAT be charged on this warm popular staple food item, when most food is zero-rated? I confess that I have not eaten a pasty since I was a child. I pass lots of pasty sellers as I…
My colleagues on the Economic Affairs Committee in the House of Lords could hardly have chosen a worse time for their report, published on 29 March 2012, opposing the all party commitment to 0.7% of UK GDP as the target for our nation’s international development aid. While politicians and pundits in Britain might be…
On 26th March, I asked a question: “What steps will HMG take to ensure that fellow signatories to the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets fulfil the obligations of the Declaration in relation to the restitution of wrongfully seized property?” It was scheduled as “dinner break business”, which means that one gets an hour on…
