the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, far be it from me from this Bench to add to the wind unnecessarily—a wind that blows where it will, according to the Holy Scriptures. Does the Minister acknowledge that the sheer volume of questions on this and similar subjects which has arisen in this House over the past year indicates quite a widespread anxiety about the combination of reliance upon intermittent sources and...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, will the Minister add to her original Answer by also paying tribute to the work of the voluntary societies in this area that often work in partnership with local authorities under Section 7 of the Act? I speak from particular experience as president of the Cheshire Deafness Support Network, which last year opened a specific deafblind facility for people who are among the neediest in...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, perhaps I may ask the Minister a complementary question. Is he satisfied that someone who is granted a gender reassignment certificate in this country will be fully accepted throughout the European Community on the basis of our tests? Given that we will not have some of the requirements of other countries—for example, evidence of being a post-operative transsexual—is he...
the Bishop of Chester: Today is Ascension Day—
the Bishop of Chester: I have an excuse: this is Ascension Day. Most European countries have not only abolished corporal punishment; they have abolished sittings of bodies such as this on what should be a public holiday. For many Bishops, this creates a difficulty; in fact, I shall have to leave quite soon because of commitments back in the diocese. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth cannot be here...
the Bishop of Chester: I am a novice with the amendment, but would not subsection (2)(c) on the prevention of a criminal act cover the supermarket incident?
the Bishop of Chester: I rise briefly to support entirely the intention behind the amendment. I am told that elephants live about as long as we do, but whereas baby elephants, when they are aged four or five, are able to go off into the jungle on their own to fend for themselves, our children are dependent on parents, or whoever is in their place, for three or four, or even, nowadays, five times as long as is the...
the Bishop of Chester: Before the Minister sits down, can she respond to the issue concerning children that the noble Lord, Lord McNally, raised. As I understand it, this clause will create a new criminal offence that will apply to those above the age of criminal responsibility and therefore to children. There are some cases of unaccompanied children who are asylum seekers. It must be a desperate and difficult...
the Bishop of Chester: We wholeheartedly concur with the careful analysis offered by the noble Lords, Lord Avebury and Lord Hylton. In all such matters, we must put the interests of the child at the centre. Various voluntary societies that care for children have come together in the Refugee Children's Consortium, among them the Church of England Children's Society, Barnardo's and a number of other organisations....
the Bishop of Chester: We on these Benches have no problem with the arguments put forward by the noble Baroness, subject to what we will hear from the Minister. It is interesting that the first use of "Christian" derived from Christians being regarded as atheists by the conventional authorities in Antioch. If I heard the noble Baroness correctly, a better formulation might be "religion, belief or unbelief", rather...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, would the Minister agree that it is perfectly possible to be enthusiastically British and yet also to support a different cricket team when it is engaged in a test match with England, provided that when England plays another country that person supports England itself? I notice that my Scottish friends find that insight hard to accept sometimes. Would it not be the true...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I should like to identify myself in general terms with all noble Lords who have spoken thus far. This is an extremely serious issue in our midst. As has been mentioned, individual church groups often get involved in caring for those who have no other means of support and subsistence. It does not happen much in my diocese—it is a long way from the main ports and it does not have...
the Bishop of Chester: Does the noble Lord consider that the distinction in this case, and in all the other cases to which we have referred, is that a genuine medical condition is being addressed by this process and that the presumption of secrecy applies in the case of all medical processes? I recognise that the noble Lord does not acknowledge the validity, authenticity and truthfulness of that medical condition....
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, clearly we need to hear the Minister's response. There has to be demonstrated a contemporary relevance for the information to be made available pertaining to the birth gender—or whatever one wishes to call it. I do not think that there is a case for the general availability and openness of the register.
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I do not think that I used the term "sanctity of marriage" but referred to the social standing of marriage. That is a slightly different concept regarding the place of marriage in our society. However, I shall not delay the noble Lord unnecessarily.
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, perhaps I may speak from these Benches with just a touch of Episcopal dysphoria. I do not quite agree with my noble friend the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester. He was sorry to have to leave for a diocesan appointment this evening. It is such a difficult issue. I believe that it comes down to which decision would best uphold the dignity and institution of marriage in...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I join the expressions of gratitude to the noble Baroness, Lady Greenfield, for initiating this debate. We were undergraduate scientists together at the University of Oxford in the early 1970s. I do not believe that we met, although there was a well worn path between Merton and St Hilda's in those days. While the noble Baroness, Lady Greenfield, went on to be one of the foremost...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, after all the rhetoric about moving towards a post-Christian society to which we were subjected in the latter decades of the 20th century, over 70 per cent of the population of England and Wales—over 80 per cent in Cheshire and the North West—declared themselves to be Christian. To that must be added the other faith communities. Does the Minister agree that the need to consult...
the Bishop of Chester: I should like to say from these Benches that the predominant view in speeches in previous debates has been to support a form of registration. I personally support the amendment and also, to a very large extent, the powerful and moving speech by the noble Lord, Lord Alli. However, I think that the principle of freedom does not stand alone but has to be qualified by other principles which are...
the Bishop of Chester: My Lords, if the underlying anxiety that exists on this issue is a result of the fact that we are increasingly having to rely on sources of supply which are less secure such as imported gas, which unlike oil and coal, cannot be stored, and 10 per cent wind power, what happens if there is a large anticyclone over the country and there is no wind? There are also ageing nuclear plants, which are...