Tag: parliament

Dorries Round-Up

Update (28th October): I’ve just been shown The Nardinia Chronicles, a new blog with a lot of detail about Dorries’ idiocy. A round-up of all of the blog posts that have been made about Nadine Dorries since she was cleared by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards last Thursday. If anything is missing then please let… Continue reading Dorries Round-Up

NHS Money Wasted on Homeopathy

Don’t have time to go into the detail that it deserves, but the House of Commons science and technology committee has published the results of its evidence check on homeopathy. The results won’t, of course, come as any surprise to anyone who has been following the debate. But I have to admit to be impressed… Continue reading NHS Money Wasted on Homeopathy

42 Days is Dead

It’s a strange world when you have to rely on the House of Lords to throw out ridiculous legislation from a Labour government. But that’s exactly what happened yesterday as the Lords voted against the government’s proposals for 42-day detention of suspected terrorists. Pretty much everyone in the country now agrees that the proposals were… Continue reading 42 Days is Dead

Rationalism 4 – Superstition 0

Over the last two days, as part of the debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, Parliament has had four votes[1] where the forces of Medievalism tried to impose the views of their imaginary friends to prevent the advance of science. As you’ll have seen in the news, they lost on all four counts.… Continue reading Rationalism 4 – Superstition 0

How Powerful is Religion?

Today’s vote on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is going to be an interesting test of the power of religion in 21st century Britain. As far as I can see, there are no reasons to object to the bill that don’t have their basis in Bronze Age myths. Gordon Brown has been really rather… Continue reading How Powerful is Religion?

No More Faith Schools

This all comes a as a bit of a surprise. But a very welcome one. The Government has decided against backing more faith schools, the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, Ed Balls, told MPs. In what is being seen as one of the most significant policy shifts of the post-Tony Blair era in education, he… Continue reading No More Faith Schools

Blasphemy Update

The debate on the amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which would repeal the UK’s law against blasphemy took place yesterday. You can read the full debate online or summaries from various news sources. Basically, following a half hour or so of debate the Justice Minister, Maria Eagle, said that the government had… Continue reading Blasphemy Update

Repealing the Blasphemy Laws

Tomorrow in Parliament, Dr Evan Harris MP will introduce an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which will seek to repeal the outdated and ridiculous UK blasphemy laws. To best explain why this is necessary I can only quote the letter that appears in today’s Telegraph: Sir – In the light of the… Continue reading Repealing the Blasphemy Laws

Patricia Hewitt

I’ve seen some cheeky 419 mail in my time, but this one (which arrived over the weekend) is the first that claims to be from a British MP and former minister. Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 5:06:03 +1000 [31/08/07 20:06:03 BST] From: “phewitt@parliament.gov.uk” <saleimh1@bigpond.net.au> Reply-To: patriciahewitt1992@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Patricia Hewitt MP Dear Friend, I got your… Continue reading Patricia Hewitt