Tag Archives: Hansard Society

Debating referendums

Lord Norton 03/05/2011 – 10:57 pm

This evening, the Hansard Society organised a seminar on referendums.  There was a panel comprising Professor Vernon Bogdanor, the journalist Steve Richards, and me - standing in for Peter Riddell, the Society's chair, who was unable to attend. It was a well attended meeting.  Vernon Bogdanor put the case for referendums, though seeing little merit in Thursday's referendum.  Steve Richards […]

Working late

Lord Norton 07/07/2010 – 11:14 pm

It is just coming up to 11.00 p.m. on Wednesday.  The House is still on Report stage of the Academies Bill.  We have just had  a vote on one of the amendments.  It is always possible that there may be more before Report stage is completed later this evening.  Then again, given that the Opposition lost the vote by 44 votes to 111, possibly not. It’s been a busy day.  I had a meeting of t […]

Improving the law-making process

Lord Norton 29/03/2009 – 3:49 pm

One of the other meetings I attended this past week was a Hansard Society seminar.  It was the first in a series on 'Making Better Law'.  I gave a paper that examined some of the problems at the heart of the current law-making process. I identified various problems.  One is the sheer volume of legislation.  The problem is not only quantitative (longer bills) but also qualitative (more complex […]

Lords of the Blog healthcheck

Hansard Society 18/11/2008 – 10:38 am

Lords of the Blog has been running since January 2008 and was launched in March 2008. An evaluation of the first six months of the pilot was carried out by the Hansard Society: everything about the blog – from the ways that authors respond to visitors, to the layout of the website – has been scrutinised. To ensure objectivity, the perspectives of site visitors, blog authors,media commentators […]