Monthly Archives: January 2012
Not the democratic option
Time flies. It hardly seems like a year has passed since I was in Glasgow to deliver the Stevenson Lecture. I spoke then on House of Lords reform and made the point that election of the second chamber is not … Continue reading
It is not in the manifesto
Politics.co.uk quotes Constitutional Affairs Minister, Mark Harper, as telling Conservative colleagues who do not support an elected second chamber to fall into line: “For those Conservative colleagues who are not in favour of Lords reform at all – it was … Continue reading
A bit manic
As readers may have realised from earlier posts, Wednesdays tend to be rather busy days. Yesterday was even more crowded than usual. I started with a pre-arranged meeting with a fellow peer followed by a meeting of the executive of … Continue reading
100,000 views…
I am pleased to report that the number of views of the site, since its inception following the last general election, has passed 100,000. From observation of the daily statistics, the readers appear to be a combination of regulars and … Continue reading
Almost didn’t make it…
I joined the Politics Department in Hull in 1977, but it almost didn’t happen. There was a lecturing post in the Department advertised in the summer – it was actually in comparative politics, but as it was virtually the only … Continue reading
Are you still at Hull?
At lunch in the Bishop’s Bar last week, one colleague in the Lords asked how long I have been at Hull. It is not something I had thought about recently (or indeed for some time), so it was in answer to … Continue reading
No two days are the same…
Although the House only came back on Tuesday, it already feels like it has been a demanding week. I was in the chamber on Tuesday for the statement on Scotland’s constitutional future. There is clearly going to be a major … Continue reading
E-mailing MPs
Last week, I circulated details to MPs of the next meeting of the all-party group on the constitution. As soon as I had e-mailed the notice, I waited for my in-box to be inundated with automatic responses. Rather than deleting … Continue reading
The independence of MPs
There were some very productive sessions at the annual Study of Parliament Conference in Oxford at the weekend. One was on the socialisation of parliamentarians. I have already done a post on Lords of the Blog on the socialisation of … Continue reading
New Year viewing as well…
A friend ‘phoned to say that he had got up rather late on New Year’s Day and switched on the television only to see me on the screen. It was the History of Parliament lecture. He seemed to think it was … Continue reading
The Norton View 