The House of Commons has passed the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to provide for assisted dying in specified circumstances and there has been speculation in the media – mainstream and so…| The Norton View
Last month, at the annual conference of the Political Studies Association (PSA), in its 75th anniversary year, I was made one of twelve Founding Fellows of the Association. My links with the PSA go back decades, indeed span my academic … Continue reading →| The Norton View
Margaret Thatcher was the longest continuously serving Prime Minister in modern British politics. She is garnering a good deal of coverage this year because it marks the 100th anniversary of her …| The Norton View
The United States is in a state of crisis. What was considered a strong democratic nation protected by a codified constitution, lauded for holding its own over time, is now in turmoil, the actions …| The Norton View
Each year, as regular readers will know, I put down a question asking how many items of correspondence have been received in the Palace of Westminster and, of those, what proportion goes to the House of Lords. At the start … Continue reading →| The Norton View
There was a notable occasion in the Lords last night when backbenchers combined against the Government and Opposition front benches to pass an amendment which was opposed by the Government and with…| The Norton View
The past year has seen some notable high points, which will be the focus of a later post, but it also saw the death of three people who I worked closely with over the years. All three had links to…| The Norton View
In January, the House of Lords appointed a Select Committee on Statutory Inquiries to examine the effects of the Inquiries Act 2005. I was appointed to chair the committee. We were required to report by November. I like to think that … Continue reading →| The Norton View
In my previous post, I mentioned that in the wake of the general election, which saw the Conservative Party suffer its worst result in history, the chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers (ACP), Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, decided to … Continue reading →| The Norton View
I wear several hats that can largely be subsumed under two broad, but not mutually exclusive, headings of academic and parliamentary. At the end of last week, I was wearing my academic hat when I was in Brussels delivering a … Continue reading →| The Norton View
Parliament will be dissolved next Thursday (30 May) and MPs will cease to be such. It will mark the end of an era for the 1922 Committee. Its leading figures, not least its chairman, Sir Graham B…| The Norton View