Both Houses rose on Thursday and will not sit again until Monday week (23 February). The break was introduced as a ‘constituency week’ for MPs, though it is now generally referred to as half-term. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have argued against having the recess, on the grounds that Parliament should be sitting in order to call…
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…
The events of recent days, with world financial turmoil, have rather borne out my earlier observations about the consequences of a long parliamentary recess. The US Congress has been at the centre of attention. Here, the Government has been able to act under legislation enacted earlier this year. Had that not been in place, then…
The picture shows a Central Lobby with no members of the public present. I use it as a means of raising the question: how concerned should we be that the public take a limited interest in what Parliament does? I have raised this question before in two contexts. One relates to the work of select…
