Monthly Archives: April 2017
Competition with a difference
Instead of the usual caption competition, I thought I would introduce a competition as to who can produce the most succinct and well argued mini-speech. I have been reflecting on how a latter-day Harold Wilson, a rather wily politician, would construct a speech explaining … Continue reading
Delaying restoration and renewal
I have previously posted about the need for both Houses to decant the Palace of Westminster in order for the restoration and renewal (R&R) programme to be undertaken. With each passing week, the Palace shows more signs of its ageing infrastructure. This is apparent … Continue reading
Social space in Parliament
As I reported in an earlier post, I spoke at the panel on ‘Designing for Democracy’ at the PSA Conference in Glasgow, looking at the design of Parliament. How parliamentarians behave is shaped by their physical surroundings. As Winston Churchill … Continue reading
More on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act
The Prime Minister has announced she will be asking the House of Commons tomorrow to vote for the motion ‘That there shall be an early parliamentary general election’. She correctly stated the provisions of the Act. She is thus ‘calling for’ … Continue reading
A labour of love…
Or a trip down memory lane… In an earlier post, I said how pleased I was to see that it was now possible to obtain copies of my first book, Dissension in the House of Commons 1945-74, in a softcover … Continue reading
Conferencing in Glasgow
I spent the first part of the week in Glasgow at the 67th Political Studies Association (PSA) Annual International Conference, held at the University of Strathclyde. It was well attended and very successful. I was kept busy in that I … Continue reading
Advising second chambers
This has been a fairly busy week – although the House of Commons was not sitting, the House of Lords was. However, the highpoints for me were not related to sittings of the House, but giving evidence to two parliamentary committees. The subject … Continue reading
Hull’s finest – Class of ’98
I have been sorting through some of the paperwork that has accumulated over some years – several boxes still to go – and in the course of doing so discovered some old attendance registers, including for the class of ’98. This coincided … Continue reading
The Norton View 