As Lord Speaker, I’m honoured to be blogging at the beginning of the second Parliament Week today. There are many worthwhile events that will be taking place both here at Westminster and around the country. On Monday, the House of Lords will launch its pilot outreach partnership with the charity Debate Mate, which uses volunteer…
Like most peers I try and get out and about to keep in touch with what’s happening in my old field, in my case in mental health services, by speaking about parliament and in return listening to staff concerns. It doesn’t give the full picture. For one thing these visits don’t include patients and their…
When the position of Lord Speaker was created in 2006, it was clear that the House was cautious about the Speaker’s role in the Chamber, but enthusiastic about the representative and ambassadorial aspects of the job. Alongside my procedural, domestic committee and security responsibilities, I have, therefore, made building a sustainable programme of external engagement,…
I have the distinction of being rather old. This is, of course, one reason why I greatly enjoy being in the House of Lords. I am lucky enough to have had a job all my life – five years working in Canada, 15 in the City of London, and then 23 years as a Member…
In response to my earlier post on tackling political alienation, a couple of respondents suggested increasing the transparency of Westminster – ‘losing the ivory tower effects of the Westminster village’ (DW) – and informing the public more about the basic operations of Parliament (Troika21). Compared with many other parliaments, Westminster is a transparent institution. Votes…
