The House of Lords

An interview with Professor Ramsden

Conservative History Journal (Free subscription) | yesterday

The secondary blog of the Conservative History Journal is finally in existence. The aim is to post very long pieces on that with shorter links on this, the primary blog. There may well be future technological developments on the site but warnings will be posted. The first piece on the other blog is a long interview Mark Coalter, a frequent contributor to the Journal, had with Professor John Ramsden...

Sake for sake's sake?

The Croydonian (Free subscription) | yesterday

Maybe. This from the Japan Times : " Sake made its way into the British Parliament on Wednesday as the House of Lords gave the opening of a new session a twist to commemorate a landmark anniversary of bilateral relations. At a party hosted by the House of Lords, around 200 British lawmakers and other participants indulged in a taste of sake, which Japanese brewers hope will challenge the dominance...

Baroness Ashton, EU’s new foreign minister

Aftermath News (Free subscription) | yesterday

Baroness Ashton Photo: JEFF GILBERT Baroness Ashton of Upholland was best-known for getting the Lisbon Treaty, the successor to the EU Constitution, through the House of Lords in June 2008. Catherine Ashton has travelled a long way from her chairmanship of Hertfordshire’s health authority to her nomination as the European Union’s first foreign minister. Telegraph | Nov 20, [...]

• Baroness Ashton: health authority chairman to EU High Representative - The Telegraph

Faceless Union Chooses Fake Leadership -- By: Andrew Stuttaford

The Corner (Free subscription) | yesterday

The EU's oligarchs have now chosen the union's new "president" (actually the president of its council, which will likely prove to be an important distinction) and "foreign minister" (or to give the job its full, magnificently pompous, vaguely Ruritanian title, "high representative"). For the former job, they have picked an obscure Belgian prime minister (are there any...

'The Great EU Stitch-Up' -- By: David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (Free subscription) | yesterday

Surprise greeted the morning's news that one Herman van Rompuy, a Belgian unknown until a few days ago, had become first president of the newly ratified European Union, and one Catherine Ashton, a British peeress every bit as unknown, had become what is modestly called High Representative, in other words in charge of the EU's foreign policy. Surprise almost immediately turned into a belly laugh that...

Why I disagree with Baroness Deech and her views on cohabitation

Marilyn Stowe divorce blog (Free subscription) | yesterday

Today I appeared on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour in a debate with Baroness Ruth Deech about the subject of cohabitation. Related posts: Why Baroness Deech is wrong – by guest blogger Jonathan James Baroness Deech holds some strong views about divorce and financial... Cohabitation: England v Scotland – by guest blogger Jenny Wilmot Compared to England and Wales, Scotland is an idyll...

Who?

Lawyers, Guns and Money (Free subscription) | yesterday

The European Union selected its President and High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and Vice President for External Affairs. In the classic stereotype of the dull gray bureaucrat, they've selected a couple of relative lightweights (given the nature and stature of the position) whom nobody outside of their jobs, families, and closest work colleagues know anything about. I'll admit to having...

Meet Our New Masters

SUBROSA (Free subscription) | yesterday

On the left is Herman Van Rompuy the new President of the EU and the right, puckering up, is Baroness Ashton, Europe's first 'foreign secretary'. Herman Van Rompuy is the Belgian prime minister who favours the introduction of EU-wide taxes and the abolition of national flags and anthems. He had been hot favourite to win the job since Tony Blair's bid crumbled in recent days. Lady Ashton, who only...

Archbishop of Canterbury tells Pope: there will be no turning back on women priests

Weiwen's religion blog (Free subscription) | yesterday

As reported by the Times in the UK , Archbishop Rowan Williams stated unequivocally to the Pope at an ecumenical conference that the Church of England will not turn back on women as priests, and presumably as bishops. This comes at a time when the Catholic Church is extending to UK Anglicans an offer that has been made to some Episcopalians in the US - they may join the Catholic Church as congregations...

Cracks in the Foundation

Standing on My Head (Free subscription) | yesterday

It's been observed that the gap between the Anglican Church and Catholicism is not wide but deep. The Archbishop of Canterbury's speech at the Gregorian Pontifical University uncovered the real depth of the divide. The Archbishop defended women's ordination and argued that more unites the two churches than divides them. He said issuess that are not of the 'first order' should not be points of division...

Chicago Consultation asks PB, ABC to oppose anti-gay bill in Uganda

The Lead (Free subscription) | yesterday

The Chicago Consultation today asked the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; Dr. Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies; and the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda, to speak out against draconian anti-gay legislation introduced in the Ugandan Parliament...

SocietyGuardian.co.uk email briefing 20 November 2009

The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday

• News: Swine flu jab to be offered to healthy under-fives • Features: The UN gave children rights - it's time we consulted them • Comment: Kick up a stink for better sanitation Welcome to the daily news round-up from SocietyGuardian.co.uk **************** Today's top story - Tories 'scaremongering' over national care service plans Labour's Andy Burnham says it is 'gutter politics'...

Women clergy need not divide Anglicans and Catholics Archbishop

Christian Today (Free subscription) | yesterday

The Archbishop of Canterbury has told Catholics that the issue of women priests and bishops need not divide

Climate change denial MEP attacks church

The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday

Roger Helmer says Anglican hierarchy has dropped the gospel in favour of 'the new religion of climate alarmism' A Tory MEP has accused the Church of England of having "abandoned religious faith entirely and taken up the new religion of climate alarmism instead". Roger Helmer, who resigned from the Tory frontbench in Europe when the Westminster leadership dumped its promised referendum on...

Not The Way To Do It

David Peter (Free subscription) | yesterday

The appointments of Herman van Rompuy as the first President of the European Council and Baroness Ashton as the Council’s High Representative are the outcome of a blatantly flawed process. It is quite clear from that once the stitch up between the dominant blocs in European politics had been agreed whereby a candidate from the Right would get the President’s job and a candidate from the...

Lord Desai only half right about Labour.

news rage uk | 18/04/2008

Lord Desai came out today and said what we are all probably thinking about unelected PM Gordon Brown. That he is indecisive and weak. However he got the next bit wrong because he claimed that Gordon was put on earth to remind us how good Blair was and this is where I started to get angry. I want to make it perfectly clear from here that I think and have always thought that the whole New Labour exercise...

• Threats, insults, and more bad polls: Brown's crisis continues to worsen - The Independent
• Labour peer Lord Desai piles pressure on 'weak' Gordon Brown - The Telegraph
• See the 13 articles on the same subject