Results 1-20 of 88 for speaker:Lord Giddens

Green Energy (Definition and Promotion) Bill: Second Reading (13 Oct 2009)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, as the author of a recent book on the politics of climate change, one cannot stress too strongly that climate change is not a left/right issue. We see in the United States the danger of what happens when it does become a polarised issue, where President Obama's climate change Bill runs the risk of not even passing through the Senate. Here there is a pleasing degree of political...

Companies' Remuneration Reports Bill [HL]: Second Reading (24 Apr 2009)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I also congratulate my noble friend Lord Gavron, and other noble Lords involved, on proposing the Bill. Like others who have spoken, I strongly endorse it. When I knew that I was going to speak in this debate, I looked at the writings of the guru of all management gurus, Peter Drucker, to see what he said about this, writing in the mid-1970s. It is pretty interesting. He said that...

Women: Economic Crisis — Debate (12 Mar 2009)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I also begin by congratulating my noble friend Lady Gould of Potternewton on having instituted the debate. She will remember that on at least two previous occasions I was the only man speaking in this parallel debate, so I am pleased that this tradition has at least been broken. Every event, even such an event as a global recession, has a bright side. The noble Baroness, Lady Hogg,...

Postal Services Bill [HL]: Second Reading (10 Mar 2009)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I begin by joining other noble Lords in paying tribute to the memory of Lord Dearing, of whom it was said by a colleague in an obituary that he was the man least changed by high office of anyone he had met. That was certainly my experience of him. As someone who has spent his life working in universities, I remember Lord Dearing for his massive contribution to the restructuring of...

Climate Change — Debate (29 Jan 2009)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Madingley, on securing this debate and on the elegant and powerful manner in which he introduced it. I want to take seriously the title of the debate—the political aspects of addressing climate change—and argue that climate change is a political problem like no other that we have had to face before. There are many reasons for...

Retirement — Question for Short Debate (13 Jan 2009)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, on having initiated this debate and on her elegant introduction, which made me feel a bit uneasy as I feel that I am one of those people over the hill at 35 who were so aptly identified. About 15 years ago, I gave a speech to IG Metall, which is the biggest metal- working union in Germany. It proved to be a very heated kind of...

Arms Trade Treaty (15 May 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I, too, congratulate my noble friend Lord Dubs on initiating this debate. I congratulate him also on his other work in this field. Despite its brevity, this has been an interesting debate because of the divergent opinions expressed and the thoughtful nature of the contributions. Efforts to establish an international arms trade treaty are an example of how a few enlightened...

European Union (Amendment) Bill (1 Apr 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, at this stage of a very long debate the best things come in small packages, and that is what I would like to offer—neatly gift-wrapped, of course. I shall make three points and, unlike some other noble Lords who have said that, three points only. My first point is that the basic premise, the basic supposition, of Euroscepticism—that being members of the European Union or...

Financial Inequality (27 Mar 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I join other noble Lords in congratulating the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, on initiating this debate. I am pleased to have struggled out of my sick-bed to take part in it. It has been a fun and instructive debate so far. I am happy to say that I disagree with something in what all noble Lords have said and I disagree with everything in what some noble Lords have...

Women: Government Policy (6 Mar 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I join an already long line in congratulating my noble friend Lady Gould on initiating this debate and on the elegant and passionate nature of her opening address. I, too, welcome—even though he is not in his place—the noble Lord, Lord Stern, to the House of Lords. He is a distinguished addition to your Lordships' House and yet another person with LSE connections in this...

Disabled People: IT Training (3 Mar 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Viscount, Lord Falkland, on securing this debate and commiserate with him that so few noble Lords have seen fit to take part in it. We know that small is beautiful. Perhaps very small is very beautiful, but I am sure that there are limits to how far that principle can be pushed. Some noble Lords might have read the book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,...

Families, Community Cohesion and Social Action (28 Feb 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I am speaking towards the end of a long list of distinguished contributors, but I should like also to join the queue to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, for setting up a debate on this manifestly significant topic and for her elegant introduction to it, even though I do not agree completely with everything she said. It is quite difficult to speak with wit and verve...

Children: Poverty (23 Jan 2008)

Lord Giddens: asked Her Majesty's Government: What is their estimate of the likelihood of achieving their target to halve child poverty by 2010 compared with 1999.

Children: Poverty (23 Jan 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply and I commend the Government for having put the reduction of child poverty so high on their social agenda. However, at least two big problems remain. One is investment; most observers calculate that £4 billion extra per year will be needed to reach the 2010 target. The other is that government policies have simply not reached the children of...

Armed Forces: US Missile Defence (10 Jan 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, since I am the first to respond I am happy to be the first to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, on having initiated this debate on what is manifestly a fundamentally important topic. To begin with, I should say that I have very considerable disquiet about how the Government have approached this issue and its wider implications. Many points can be made about this...

Health: Audiology (8 Jan 2008)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, we owe the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, our plaudits for setting up this debate on a topic that is unjustifiably low-profile in our thinking. It would be hard to dispute that audiology is one of the Cinderella areas of the NHS. This in some part reflects widespread cultural attitudes towards hearing loss in our society. If someone goes blind, it is universally regarded as a tragedy,...

Debate on the Address (13 Nov 2007)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I should also like to discuss aspects of the Climate Change Bill, and let begin by saying that I was heartened by two themes of the opening speeches. The first is that, in terms of its implications, the Climate Change Bill is the most far-reaching for this country and indeed for the rest of the world than any of the clutter of Bills under consideration. The second is that there is...

Anti-Americanism (9 Oct 2007)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Saatchi, on initiating this debate. I assure him that I am a paid-up member of the AAA; that is, I am certainly anti-anti-Americanism. Anti-Americanism, as the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, hinted, is an incoherent phenomenon a little like anti-globalisation, if only because the United States is such a diverse and contradictory society. I become...

Foreign Policy (21 Jun 2007)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Howell, for initiating this important and ambitious debate. However, I disagree fundamentally with almost everything he said in introducing it, as I have on other occasions when we have had a chance to debate these issues. Boom, boom, boom is the sound of the noble Lord—I am not sure whether he is noble and reverend—stealing my thunder. He...

Foreign Policy (21 Jun 2007)

Lord Giddens: My Lords, by the noble "it's a bit of a muddle" Lord, and concentrate on the others. First, the speech interestingly opens with Kosovo. The Prime Minister said: "This is a just war, based not on any territorial ambitions but on values". He continued: "We cannot let the evil of ethnic cleansing stand". Whichever way one looks at it, the Prime Minister's influence on Kosovo and its outcome,...