The Times carried a substantial article last Friday on Portugal’s approach to drugs. The Portuguese experience has been held up as a possible model for others to follow. The article, by Chris Smyth, identifies the statistics that appear to bear out the aims of the reform. Since the policy was introduced ten years ago, drug use among the…
I have now read the full text of Pope Benedict’s address to the bishops of England and Wales. It is quite clear that he was referring to an existing law passed a year or two ago, and NOT to the current Equality Bill. Accusations of interference in British internal affairs were therefore unfounded.
I have previously written about the long summer recesses. The Times today has an editorial arguing the case for Parliament’s deliberations to be spread more evenly over the year. As it notes, MPs are not on holiday for the period of the recess, but nonetheless the recess means that government goes on with no parliamentary…
The committees of the House of Lords produce some excellent reports. The report of the Science and Technology Committee on Genomic Medicine has found a fan in the form of Mark Henderson, the scientific editor of The Times. His story can be read here. The report, he says, “is a quite remarkable summary of the…
A number of politicians have rushed in to argue that constitutional reform – be it proportional representation or an elected second chamber – is the answer to the current crisis. The logic of their argument is far from clear. The crisis is one of confidence in our political class, not in our basic constitutional framework. …
