Monthly Archives: July 2012
‘Not so much whips as feather dusters’
A paper delivered at one of the panels at the Wroxton Workshop (see the previous post) was on the recruitment of government whips in the House of Commons. This led to a discussion as to changes in the relationship between whips … Continue reading
Comparing legislatures
I spent the weekend at Wroxton College in Oxfordshire attending the Tenth Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians. My attendance could be described as necessary given that I organised the event, as I have done all the previous workshops. They … Continue reading
Room with a view
Members of the House of Lords do not have their own individual offices. We have to share. Mine, as regular readers will know, is shared with several other peers. This, I hasten to add, is not a problem; quite the reverse … Continue reading
Not a priority
A friend of mine commented that the Norton View appeared to have become a one-subject blog recently. I have no idea what he was talking about. Anyway, back to the subject of Lords reform. A recent Ipsos MORI poll has found that … Continue reading
Not another one
I do despair of commentators who keep writing as if election of the second chamber is so obviously ‘democratic’ or esssential in a modern democracy, oblivious of the fact they are displaying an ignorance of the issue and certainly of the … Continue reading
The duck effect
Westminster is fairly quiet this week. Last week, we had the high drama of the vote in the Commons on the Second Reading of the House of Lords Reform Bill. This week, the Commons has risen for the summer. The … Continue reading
Spilling the beans
Supporters of the House of Lords Reform Bill keep calling in aid the Coalition Agreement. The only problem is that it doesn’t say what they think it says. (The commitment is to set up a committee to bring forward proposals … Continue reading
Gay marriage again
At the risk of inviting the ire of Maude and Frank Summers, I have just done a post on Lords of the Blog on the subject of gay marriage. It is based on the study produced by Policy Exchange and … Continue reading
Spot the errors…
As readers will know, The Independent has not exactly shone in its coverage of the debate about the future of the House of Lords. It goes from bad to worse. In today’s edition, it has a section on asking the … Continue reading
Not the most compelling of arguments…
There were some excellent speeches in the Commons on Monday and Tuesday in the debate on the House of Lords Reform Bill. There were also some that left one wondering why the person had bothered to speak. One of the least compelling was … Continue reading
The Norton View 