House of Lords Podcast: Lord Speaker's Corner

• Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: Lord Speaker’s Corner

  Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, speaks about why she is campaigning on topics including salmon farming and water company pollution in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner.‘We’ve seen water companies polluting our waterways, our beaches, our lovely fishing streams… our chalk streams that are very rare and precious. And yet, we still can’t stop them doing it.’ Baroness Jones is one of two Green members of the House of Lords alongside Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle. In this episode, she speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about why she campaigns on a range of topics.‘People carry on eating salmon, even though the way they’re produced in salmon farms is absolutely horrifying. It is the lice. The fish in the farm suffer, quite often die in their pens because the lice have eaten so far into their flesh. Wild Atlantic salmon going past these fish farms can get poisoned by the toxic stuff, all the antibiotics and so on, coming off the farm fish.’ Baroness Jones describes how members initially questioned the Green link to various issues when she first joined the Lords but how that has now changed. She explains ‘I had to explain to people everything is about the environment. If you build the wrong houses in the wrong place, then it's a disaster for future flooding, and so on.’Baroness Jones also shares how she came to the Lords after training as an archaeologist and later serving as a London Assembly Member and Deputy Mayor.See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  --------  

  34:29
• Lord Kinnock: Lord Speaker’s Corner

  Former leader of the Labour party Neil Kinnock, Lord Kinnock, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner.‘I guess that's what gave me my politics basically. The idea that many people working together could produce and provide at the level of quality that would've been absolutely impossible for the individual or the family.’ Lord Kinnock speaks about growing up in south Wales and what drew him to politics, his early years as an MP and the Labour party of the late 80s and early 90s. He also speaks about his regrets from his time as leader, plus how politics and public discourse has changed today: ‘I don't want deference. Deference is not part of my makeup and I don't want anybody else to show it. But respect, accommodation, compassion, those instincts are fundamental to human beings, and they're too often being discarded or suppressed.’Lord Kinnock also explains that he wished he had challenged the President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Arthur Scargill, more forcefully about the need to ballot its members: 'I told Scargill at the beginning of April 1984 that without a ballot, the strike would not succeed. And I said it publicly, I just wish that I'd said it more publicly (even), and repeatedly over the subsequent months as a way of simply telling the truth to men and their families who were showing superhuman loyalty to the cause and whose loyalty was being abused by someone who had a very peculiar, very odd interpretation of what he thought of as his socialist mission, which was misplaced and misleading and assisted in tragedy. I've said before that Scargill and Thatcher deserved each other. Nobody else did.'The former Labour leader also gives a rare insight into private discussions between himself and Shadow Chancellor John Smith in preparation for the 1992 general election. Watch or listen to the full episode to find out more.See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  --------  

  1:10:49
• Lord McDonald of Salford: Lord Speaker’s Corner

  Former top diplomat Simon McDonald, Lord McDonald of Salford, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner.Lord McDonald shares his views on a range of current international issues from President Trump and Greenland to the Chagos Islands and British soft power, plus changes to the global approach of the USA, China and Russia:‘For most of my career, the reasons why the institutions of the late 1940s were fraying were because Russia and then China were not particularly happy with that post Second World War settlement. The surprise in recent years is the United States being a revisionist power, not liking the bill paid by the United States to underpin that settlement.’Lord McDonald was previously Head of the Diplomatic Service, the most senior civil servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has served as Ambassador to Israel and to Germany. In this episode, he speaks to Lord McFall about what drew him to public service both in the Foreign Office and the House of Lords:‘I think British public service is part of what defines our country and helps us through crisis. And I think it is a fact that in this House there are a group of people who are here to help, to help other people, not to help themselves. They are here to bring their expertise to bear. They're here to listen to other people. They are here to gather evidence before they make up their minds. And I think those are solid attributes of public service.’Lord McDonald also talks about the role of the Civil Service and ministers, plus the challenges of planning for successive governments:‘One reason why our projects across the board are worse than, say, similar projects in Japan or China or even France, is our planning regime, that every single road, bridge, railway has to go through a very protracted planning legal procedure. Every government I've worked for identified our planning laws as an obstacle, and every government so far has failed really to grip it. I note that the new Labour government is gearing up to attempt. I hope they succeed. But I note that every previous effort has failed.’See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  --------  

  44:31
• Baroness Hazarika: Lord Speaker's Corner

  From politics to comedy to campaigning against anti-social behaviour, broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner.Baroness Hazarika grew up in Coatbridge, Scotland and is the first person of Indian Assamese heritage to join the House of Lords. She rose to become a senior adviser to Labour figures including Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband, playing a crucial role preparing them for PMQs:‘I think Prime Minister's Questions gets a very bad rap, because it does often become quite Punch and Judy, but I think it's a really important function of our democracy. There are not many democracies around the world where the principal politician in the land is called to the same spot week in, week out, and faces questions on any topic from any Member of Parliament across the country.’In this episode, Baroness Hazarika talks about her unlikely career path from politics to stand-up comedy and broadcasting, and back to politics. She also explains to Lord McFall how she will use her new political platform to campaign against anti-social behaviour and crime:‘I don't like calling this low-level crime, because I don't think it's low-level crime. But I think this stuff is not easy, but the more we talk about it and the more we press government ministers, that puts the pressure on them to keep on keeping this a priority.’Finally, Baroness Hazarika tells Lord McFall about receiving the phone call to offer her a place in the Lords, explaining ‘I really couldn't believe it, because if you're somebody like me from my background and you've loved politics your whole life, it's a real honour to be asked to join the House of Lords for the party that you have served and the party you love.’She shares that this wasn’t the first thought that went through her head though, saying ‘The person said, “I'm calling on behalf of Keir Starmer. This is really serious. Are you by yourself? I think you better sit down.” And the first thing I thought was, "Oh my goodness, what have I been saying on my social media? Am I about to get cancelled, or am I about to get suspended from the Labour Party? Have I said something terrible?’ See more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  --------  

  51:32
• Lord Sedwill: Lord Speaker’s Corner

  From the Foreign Office to National Security Adviser to Cabinet Secretary, Mark Sedwill – Lord Sedwill – is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner.‘It comes down in the end to the quality of the individual and then they'll get the best out of the best civil servants.’In this episode, Lord Sedwill shares his perspectives on the relationship between ministers and officials, reforming the Civil Service and what his advice would be for the new Cabinet Secretary.‘There was a period which is now coming towards an end, a decade when the UK became quite introspective’A former diplomat, including Nato representative and UK Ambassador to Afghanistan, Lord Sedwill also shares his perspectives on the UK’s changing role internationally, plus its need to actively engage the BRIC countries.‘Diplomacy is not about talking to your friends. Diplomacy is about talking to your adversaries and seeing if you can find a way of dealing with the situation if possible without conflict.’Lord Sedwill also speaks about working in some of most intense regions for the Foreign Office including Egypt and Iraq, where once he was held at gunpoint by a young man as he was trying to gain access to one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces as a UN Weapons Inspector. ‘This youngster, he was probably only 16 or 17. He wasn't scared of us, he was scared of getting it wrong and what would happen to him or his family. And I remember having to calm the situation down… I intervened and just used my Arabic and tried to calm the situation down. And that's probably the closest I ever came to being shot directly by someone where there was absolutely no protection.’ See more from the series at https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  --------  

  59:01

More News podcasts

Trending News podcasts

About House of Lords Podcast: Lord Speaker's Corner