Lord Brennan: We are not engaged in democratic patronage. We are engaged in the involvement of peoples' rights. The matter is not a question of ownership. The ownership of a radio station will be determined by Ofcom on the principles set out in their approach to the provision of radio station licences. The question to which I referred was the refusal to allow part of our society to apply to become owners....
Lord Brennan: Was the noble Lord here the other day when we were arguing about whether there was space for two local television stations? We were told that we could not have that because there was not enough spectrum. If there are not enough for two local television stations, how can there be enough for the multitude of religions which now wish to broadcast?
Lord Brennan: My Lords, the concept of illness and death in society, and when it comes to this legislature, should surely arouse us to discuss such concepts in a background of promoting trust, creating hope and arranging illness and the care of those who are dying for the common good. I profoundly disagree with this Bill because it does not achieve those objectives. Rather, perhaps unwittingly, it nurtures...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, the mark of a civilised society is the quality of its criminal justice system. Where, as we do now, we face a Criminal Justice Bill enormous in scope, it is our legislative duty to ensure that it meets the standards of a civilised society. A couple of centuries ago, Edmund Burke pointed out that it is not for lawyers to make law, it should be based on the concepts of humanity,...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, I ask for the patience of the House in listening to a short speech. I sincerely admire the strongly held convictions of my noble friends and colleagues on the other Benches. I hope that they respect the strongly held beliefs of the people who disagree with them. This is not the occasion to enter into a debate of Church and religion versus gay and lesbian rights. The question is...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, I am sorry; I do not propose to give way. This is a long debate. If the noble Lord will forgive me, he took a long time himself. This is not an occasion for battle; it is an occasion for balance between different rights. The Government sought to strike the right balance between competing interests. I believe that they have done their best and we should agree to the regulations.
Lord Brennan: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for giving way. I raised my hand, which he astutely observed. The word "similar" in these regulations is used in relation to the quality of the belief, not its nature. The phrase "similar philosophical belief" addresses the state of mind in which someone holds that belief to the same thinking quality as a religious belief. It is not used to assimilate it in...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, I raise a particular problem about these regulations while otherwise welcoming them very warmly. The problem relates to Regulation 20, which rightly applies the regulations to institutions of further and higher education. The problem arises as to what is comprised by that phrase, "institutions of further and higher education". Regulation 17 expressly excludes schools, but there...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, they come within the funding arrangements of various education Acts which have been passed by this House. But the fact is that in most of them the balance between Catholic and non-Catholic is about—I say "about" in a broad sense—55 per cent Catholic, 45 per cent non-Catholic. They are seeking to meet a local need as well as preserving to that small extent places for those of the...
Lord Brennan: I am generally in favour of any means of saving costs and expediting decisions involving the liberty of the subject that are reasonable. I invite the Minister, in his further considerations, to bear in mind what I am about to relate. When we telephone our bank to complain about its bad service we endure the savage irony of a lady telling us that the conversation will be recorded in order to...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, in speaking to Amendment No. 1, the House should commend the noble Baronesses Lady Knight of Collingtree and Lady Finlay of Llandaff, on reaching agreement on the amendment to the original Clause 1. I commend the amendment because these are extremely serious matters that we are debating. They are designed to protect patients but they should not, in a desire to protect them, cause...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, I rise briefly to raise a point advanced by my noble friend the Minister, which is to stress how careful we must be in dealing with matters of this sensitivity. That is not a reason why the House should decline to deal with matters of public interest, because in the House of Lords case of Bland, all the Law Lords said that it was a matter for Parliament, and at least one, the noble...
Lord Brennan: To serve on a jury is an act of citizenship and citizenship is best understood within the history of the country in which it is being exercised, which for these purposes, is England and Wales. One can fairly say about the concept of citizenship in our country that it involves the right to have rights and the duty to perform duties. A jury trial exquisitely and democratically combines those...
Lord Brennan: I want briefly to comment on the proposal. The eloquence of the noble Lord's presentation of the amendment does not overcome its inadequacy as a proposal. I shall deal with it in four ways. First, good taste requires me to limit the kind of anatomical metaphor that might be appropriate, so I shall content myself with saying that the noble Lord has got it back to front. In his analysis, he...
Lord Brennan: My legislative immaturity would be greatly advanced by an explanation of how the Secretary of State is to identify and organise lists of those eligible, without his being involved in a decision about who is on the list. No doubt, the noble Lord can amplify that if the amendment is pursued. I turn to my fourth and final point, which is probably the most important of all in my critique. I am...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, I welcome the changes, of which the Minister told the House, in the amendments proposed by the Commons. However, in so doing I register with the House the concerns that led to a change of thinking by the Government, which they very generously stated had occurred. The first was the very simple proposition that if one has a system of broadcasting which is opened up to all to apply, it...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, perhaps I may assist the Minister. I was not dealing with countries that do not allow religious broadcasting in the public sector because it is against their constitutions and so on. My argument was directed at the independent sector.
Lord Brennan: In a debate of such importance, metaphorical self-evisceration is not helpful. The debate must surely be conducted on a serious basis. This part of the Bill seeks in a limited form to reflect the sense of justice of the community. Let me put a contrast to the Committee. If we consider it just that someone who has been in prison for 15 or 20 years should be released because DNA evidence shows...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, in 1867 Bagehot declared that the supreme court of English people ought to be a great conspicuous tribunal, it ought to bring our law into unity and it ought not to be hidden beneath the robes of a legislative assembly. I agree with those words. The time has come at the beginning of this century for a supreme court in this country. I believe we shall debate the reasons for that at...
Lord Brennan: My Lords, we, the rich, have preached the gospel of globalisation for years. But it is not a gospel the poor will accept unless it has a tenet in it that includes justice. If we, the rich, chose the WTO to be our vehicle for expanding world trade, we must make that vehicle have a just base. It does not have that now. It is failing. Three decisions are needed—two present and one future....
