the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, when the Victorian county boundaries were settled, those responsible tried to follow natural boundaries as far as possible. In the case of Cheshire, that was the River Tame, the River Mersey, the Derbyshire hills and the Welsh border in particular. The church followed that, so the Diocese of Chester, when it was formed in its modern size, followed the Victorian county of Cheshire....
the Bishop of Chester: I pretty much agreed with what the noble Lord, Lord Waddington, said when he introduced this debate, although I am not entirely convinced that the amendment would be helpful. I entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, about the importance of freedom of speech, but in any society free speech must be responsible speech, too; responsibility must be given an equal weighting. The...
the Bishop of Chester: I would say only that I believe this demonstration of freedom of speech is exactly what your Lordships expect.
the Bishop of Chester: To ensure that the record is accurate, the noble Lord is right to say that there was no contact whatever between me and the police, which was interesting at the time. However, partly supporting his point, the police seemed to assume that the newspaper report was accurate without making any attempt whatever to check with me whether it was. Therefore, I assure the noble Lord that at the time I...
the Bishop of Chester: I entirely share the intention of the mover of the amendment, but the question is whether and why one should single out this form of threat and put it in the Bill. Once you start to do that, you lose the whole basis on which the legislation has been framed, which is to allow context. Words which in one context can be non-threatening in another context can be very threatening. It seems to me...
the Bishop of Chester: To use what most people would find offensive as a central criterion is too subjective. We live in a society where we have a diverse range of tastes; there are lots of things I do not like at all but which are legal in this society. It is interesting that certain noble Lords got a great number of letters and e-mails on certain topics. I got none, and I wonder why; no doubt it was assumed by...
the Bishop of Chester: I want to offer some general support to the Government for what they are attempting to do with these clauses. To bring pressure to bear in our society on the extraordinary explosion of what we might generally call pornographic images seems to me to be laudable and right. I share the view of those who have already spoken in this debate that to address the issues as set out here seems to beg as...
the Bishop of Chester: I strongly support the amendments, especially the second one. To put any formal limit on the time when application may be made for compensation is flawed in itself, but six years would be better than two. As the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, said so eloquently, there is no moral equivalence between the state stepping in to offer some recompense for a wrong committed by someone else and the...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, the issue in this amendment turns around the meaning, nature and understanding of the word "consent". We all admire the noble Lord, Lord Winston, for the work that he has done in this area but I wonder whether the patients with whom he deals in his clinic are not a self-selecting group who will naturally be open to this sort of research in the first place. I would at least want to...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I support the amendment and agree with every word just spoken by the noble and learned Lord. However, were the amendment to be accepted, it may be necessary to look at the precise phraseology. I was a chemist in a previous incarnation and as I moved from being an undergraduate chemist to a research chemist, I can remember entering a completely different world where the experiments...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I support the amendment, but would like to ask one question of the Minister. The amendment speaks of an early age, and the Minister used the expression "a young age." That could mean a range of ages. While I am entirely supportive of the amendment, I am one of those who share the anxiety that children are denied their childhood these days by sometimes being treated as adults when...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, when does the Minister expect the first commercially viable and economic carbon capture plant to be operational in this country?
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I join with the majority of noble Lords who welcomed the Statement's measured and restrained tone and the breadth of the ways in which the issues are to be addressed. I am somewhat anxious that if we are to go beyond 28 days a state of emergency will have to be declared. It seems to me that that could be misused or misunderstood by the public. I wonder whether that is the best...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I have considerable sympathy for what the noble Lord, Lord Graham, has said and the questions that he has asked. As an occasional but regular visitor to prisons, the prisons with which I have been most impressed, certainly in the past 10 years, have been private and have been of great benefit to the system as a whole. However, the atmosphere in a prison can very easily become...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, it is a privilege to speak in this debate among such an array of distinguished speakers. The relationship of the UK to the European Union and the wider relationships of the European Union itself have been regular subjects of debate in this House, for good reason. We are dealing with our common heritage and our common future, albeit in an ever more global context. The discussion...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, Members of the House may not be aware that those on the Bishops' Benches can vote in general elections. We are here only in a spiritual capacity; that is why we retire. However, the last known instance of a Bishop voting was when Archbishop Runcie could not resist the opportunity to vote against Mrs Thatcher. He was found out and apologised thereafter. Does the Minister agree that...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I have recently returned from leading a pilgrimage of 200 people from my diocese to Israel and Palestine. It was primarily a spiritual pilgrimage to the holy sites, and we were able to visit two Palestinian cities: Bethlehem and Jericho. In addition, in the evening we were addressed on contemporary issues by senior members of the Israeli, Palestinian, Arab and indigenous Christian...
the Bishop of Chester: I, too, support the amendment, partly on the grounds that have been advanced—the potential conflict of interest. Also, I suspect that, despite the advantages that may flow from the introduction of other agencies in probation work, certain features of the justice system belong to the state; that is, they should be part of the public activity of the state. Sentencing in particular is the...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I welcome this debate. Britain is a relatively crowded country, and the state of our country areas is a vital subject for town and countryside dwellers alike. The great majority of our people who live in urban areas value the contrasting amenities that the countryside provides, and those who live in the countryside easily feel the pressure of nearby urban areas. The countryside...
the Bishop of Chester: I entirely support all that has been said in this debate so far. However, rather than simply trying to legislate against conflicts of interest, which does not entirely remove the conflict of interest, there are some aspects of the Probation Service that it is simply not appropriate to put into private hands. The writing of pre-sentence reports may well be one of those aspects. I would go a...