At the reception held at the House of Lords last December to mark the 30th anniversary of my appointment as Professor of Government at the University of Hull, two of my closest friends, both former students of mine, spoke. Ken Batty announced that a group of my friends had got together to commission the painting of my portrait by the artist Alex Debenham. Sittings for the portrait were completed earlier this year. Last night, the portrait was unveiled by the Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, at a reception at the Lords. Guests were as impressed as I was by the quality. I think the artist has done a superb job. All I have to decide now is where to put it on display.
Advertisements
A former MP has one of his dog in pride of place and a letter from the PM in the loo. Make of that what you will.
Caption competition!
I don’t think I will risk it!
Impressive; the teapot is a nice touch. Where did the sittings take place?
http://alexanderdebenham.com/Portrait.html
In my London flat. The teapot has been much admired.
Beautiful painting and totally encapsulates you and your personality.
Thank you. I am delighted with it.
Clever artist. But, makes you appear sad and stiff. Also has an out of focus lower half?
Don’t know what it is about the previous red room pic, but, it does something pleasing for your bearing. Maybe the lighting? Nevertheless, that is the better of the two. From my point of view..
Definitely a distinguished looking man!
OffTopic:
Perhaps I’ve just skipped past it before but without thinking further but I noticed this in hansard.
>>
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Michael Gove)
indicated assent.
>>
I was under the impression Hansard only recorded spoken words.
I saw a TV prog recently (possibly one of the info-mercials on BBC Parliament?) in which the job spec of Hansard reporters was referenced; they are not transcribers, they try to provide the right colour to the events. Hansard describes their output as “…the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.”
Were you looking at Clause 30, by any chance?
Unusually short, I agree. Mr Gove did give ground to the idea that the Animal Welfare Act was not “the right legislative vehicle” in his Written Statement, 23 November 2017.
Yes I was. I suspect it was because the were a whole series of ‘indicated assent’ in a very short part of the debate that caught my eye.
Croft: Not unusual for Commons Hansard to include comments such as ‘indicates assent’ where someone has nodded rather than said ‘yes’. Also not unusual for Commons Hansard to include ‘[interruption]’. Lords Hansard tends to avoid using anything other than what is said (albeit with tidying up). Its technique for indication laughter or dissent is: ‘Noble Lords: Oh!’
Intrigued by the use of of Commons Hansard and Lords Hansard: are there different rules, or conventions?
I’m used to the others you mention but for some reason not picked up the ‘indicated assent’. Not sure why.
tizres: I know at one time the teams that did the notation were separate I have no idea if thats still true
Not surprised I couldn’t remember the TV programme: it doesn’t exist. This is what I had in mind: https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2017/07/24/being-a-hansard-reporter-10-things-
(part-duplicate of another comment awaiting moderation)
Not surprised I couldn’t remember the TV programme: it doesn’t exist. This is what I had in mind: https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2017/07/24/being-a-hansard-reporter-10-things-
I found a few instances of the phrase eg: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1956/dec/13/dagenham